Predator: Species War
by Darwin
Summary: The Predator Gui’Yata and the human Courtney return from their mission on Earth, to find their home in flames. Witnesses say that raiding Predators are to blame. Has the truce been broken or has something more sinister happened in their absence?
1. Homecoming

Chapter One: Homecoming

Quarta set down softly on the dry packed soil of Taysa's spaceport swirling what little dust had gathered there since the last craft had lifted. A soft expelling of air echoed through the still spring day announcing the Taysa Taru's homecoming to Soona. It had been a long dull flight home after the events that they had left on Earth, three months of boring practice, studying, and sleeping. They had not even stopped on the way back for a hunt. And they had passed some very good hunting grounds.

Gui'Yata and Courtney talked softly as they made their way toward the docking ramp, glad to be back home. Courtney looked over at her Bondsman, finally happy with the way he looked. His seven-foot frame had been so gaunt after they had freed him from the ATP that she began to think that he would never return to his former thick and muscular form. He had been felled by the Sickness, a condition brought on by poor atmosphere and by the lack of proper food and water while he had been in captivity, and his body had quickly eaten away at itself to maintain his vital functions. His brown, orange and yellow crème color had returned to normal as well and he was beginning to look like a proper Soua.

He had his long ornamented dread lock style hair drawn up just behind his crown ridge the thick strands standing straight up behind it. His face was relaxed, his deep-set orange and yellow eyes watching the path ahead of them from under his heavy speckled brow ridges. His four mandibles twitched as he spoke, covering his inner mouth protectively. It was considered rude to speak with mandibles open. It was a sign of hostility and challenge and no civilized Soua would do it unless he was prepared for a fight. As they walked he would absently rub the scars running from his chin onto his chest, even after all these rotations they still bothered him occasionally.

He wore only his loincloth, and the ornamental sling that carried the requisite skulls and teeth, enough to impress but not so much as to gloat. He wore simple sandals enough to provide his feet protection over the rough heated ground of the port. His spirit was light and they talked about pleasant things, successful hunts and just their time together.

Courtney had her hair in cornrow's of braids with two dangling just in front of each ear, each adorned with small metallic rings and thin bones from some smaller predatory creature that she had killed during her last time on Soona. The remainder of the braids was gathered and looped much like Gui'Yata's was. The top of her hair was and would always remain short, if for noting else to ease the wear of her hunting and battle helm. She was wearing her undergarment, a suede like brazier and a matching set of bottoms with rough skirts that swayed with her motion. Her sandals were a mirror image of Gui'Yata's, the tough Habade hide soles providing protection but supple enough that she could feel a small pebble under her feet, or hold to the branch of a tree without falling.

Her almond shaped brown eyes studied everything without seeming to. Her soft-featured Mexican face still showed three parallel scars from her fight with Koratan, Gui'Yata's now deceased brother. Her body was now covered in scars, a fact of life in the society in which she now lived, they were indicators of her bravery, and she would take none of them back. Her left arm also bore a scar from that fight, from her shoulder to her elbow was a surgically neat cut from a blow of Koratan's Sasa that had been intended to kill her. The tip of one ear was missing, and her thigh bore scars from an Inausto on her hunt for Taurana.

And then there were the two scars on her inner arm, one was a mark of honor, a mark of Taura. Two stylized upwardly curving horns over the round eye socket. Under the staring eye were three curved teeth as if bared for a fight. It was a symbol likened to the creature for which the totem stood. It was a symbol of bravery and honor in the hunt. The other scar, now covered by a gauntlet adorned with a striping of gold and small jewel flecks that she had been given in trade for her services as a Soyasa, was the mark of her bonding. Gui'Yata wore the matching scar, an original mark logged in Onona's records telling the world that he would know no other and that he had found his lifemate. It had been intended as a punishment for Gui'Yata's and his Grandfather, the Quona Lyonas, and had been the driving factor in their defection from the city and all the traditions that Gui'Yata had been taught. Now to the two of them the marks meant nothing, an outdated form that they ignored. Unfortunately in mixed company she was forced to wear the gauntlet and pretend that she and Gui'Yata were one mind in two bodies. It was an act that they had perfected in the ten rotations that they had been together, required with the coming and going to other more traditional cities than Taysa.

There had been a point in time that they would have been killed on site if caught in Onona or one of the other better-rooted cities. They had been outcasts, Taysa Taru, rebels, and in the mind of the Ot Eesan traitors to the code of honor that had been established after long rotations of tribal warring. That had been the way of their life until the truce.

They had been plunging headlong into Civil War as Citizens of the old ways had retaliated for the disruption of their lives by attacking Taysa and its small population. It had steadily escalated, as each side became increasingly violent in their strikes at surrounding cities. The Ot Eesan had summoned the young and inexperienced Eesan from Taysa to negotiate a truce and they were escorted under Huada protection back to the Doana. It had been a bitter fight to come to a compromise on the terms, but in the end the city of Taysa was recognized formally and allowed to run on it's own rules so long as those from Taysa obeyed the rules of any city they came to. And they had settled into their lives after that, no longer fearful of reprisals.

They were not coming home to any fanfare, they would be lucky if anyone had come to meet the ship. It was not the Soua way.

Their mission, to stop the ATP from capturing a Soua, had not been a success as they had hoped, and the root had been left in the ground. Like any weed, as long as the ATP's root remained it would spell trouble for any Predator hunting Earth in the near future. They were intent on discussing the possibility of making the blue and green planet prohibited with Onona, for the risks seemed to be outweighing the challenge of that particular style of hunting.

Their mission had been curtailed when Gui'Yata had been captured and in the process of rescuing him from the ATP they had lost a member of their party. Sora had been Courtney's first patient after she had made Soyasa. Sora had sought her out in a desperate attempt to try and control his unstoppable rages, when no one in his society would help. Sora had become one of Courtney's closest friends and she had taken his loss very hard…very hard indeed.

Gui'Yata looked over at Courtney now still seeing the stress in her face as she walked next to him, she still had not gotten completely over it. She had been withdrawn even from him since the events of that night, and part of him wondered if she blamed him at least in part for Sora's death. She never admitted as much to him, and if any human was able to speak the truth it was Courtney. He was sure that she would tell him if she harbored any ill will.

They paused as they reached Quarta's entrance, one step behind Quona out of deference to the Eesan, and waited as the rest of the Taysa Taru caught up. The old Soua was grizzled and grayed, his high ridged forehead thick with short gray spines. His color had faded from the brilliant colors that Gui'Yata or Nobaya possessed, his greenish tinting almost an olive color. He was dressed more formally than she or Gui'Yata, wearing his armor and the net suit that allowed them to bend the light around them and hide in plain sight. He carried his ceremonial sword at his side, but his plasma cannon stayed safely stowed in his quarters on Quarta. The old Soua smiled at them as they approached, a raising of his upper mandibles, that amazingly enough equated almost identically to a human smile. They turned as a group and watched the few in their party join them. They nodded at each one in turn as they approached.

Yaha was the first to arrive, always punctual. She looked down on Gui'Yata and clapped him on the shoulder. She was the giant among these giants, eight foot three, her dark green spotted skin glistened as she relished the heat of their home. Her locks were down coming to nearly her waist, one of the few ways that you could tell male from female in this society, other than the females tended to be larger and heavier than the males. She was dressed as casually as the rest of them wearing only a loincloth, Soua did not possess mammary glands and therefore had no stigma about going topless.

Nobaya was just behind her, looking relaxed, as he always did, he had always been a cool one under pressure. His dread locks also hung loose falling about his muscular shoulders as he sauntered up and greeted the group. His crème colored skin had darkened since she had known him muting the chocolate crosses and diamonds on his skin even further.

The last to arrive, almost simultaneously was Yalsa and the Human Gerard. Yalsa was an astronavigator who also possessed short stature. His rattlesnake-patterned skin was nearly concealed by his own array of gear. He wore his full hunting gear, his helm on, and he still had his navigation hookups attached to his helm, dangling from the sides of his head like tentacles. He had insisted on assisting Quarta with the approach to the planet and coordinating the landing. Quarta indulged him, seeming tickled by the amount of attention he paid her, attention she had not received in many generations she had hinted to Courtney one day. Quarta had been Yalsa's life since She had arrived at Taysa. He had been an astrogator dying for a ship to fly, and he had found it in Quarta. Yalsa in fact lived on board most of the time his quarters very near the navigation room. But even he was ready to set his feet on the soil of his homeland and visit with friends he had not seen since their mission had begun.

He trotted the last few steps to them knowing they would wait on the whole of the party before dropping the ramp and greeting their home world. They were all ready for a break after six moon periods of space travel and another on planet.

Gerard still even after three months looked shell shocked, moving as if under some compulsion that he could not control toward the group. His dark hair was disheveled and his brown eyes bloodshot and puffy. He had lost weight since departure from Earth, having hardly touched food since they had left. His trip had been much like Courtney's, forced upon him when he was least likely to be ready. Unlike Courtney however he clung tenaciously to his old trappings and his old style of living. He had done little to learn the language, the hunting skills, nor even try to learn the culture he was now a part of like it or not. He seemed to like none of the food that was served even what Courtney knew was palatable and even tasty, if he would only give it a try. She looked at him and grimaced, as he was still wearing the clothes that he had worn when they had stormed the ATP complex.

"Scott," She said as he shuffled up to them, "Wouldn't you prefer to wear something a little cooler?"

His glazed eyes moved over her face a moment before he said anything, "No, I'm fine," he muttered.

"Are you sure? I mean it gets hot here," She admonished him.

"I'm…fine," He said slowly as if she was a dim wit.

She shrugged and turned away, "Suit yourself."

Gui'Yata saw Courtney's look of consternation and leaned over saying in Sou, "You were no better when you were first here, give him time, he will adjust."

"He should have adjusted already," Courtney replied gruffly, "He is just being stubborn."

Gui'Yata laughed shortly smiling broadly as he looked away from her.

"WHAT?" She asked him knowing he was teasing her about something.

"You like him," Gui'Yata said in his usual forthcoming fashion, "That he will not let you help him bothers you."

"I do not!" Courtney said indignantly punching him hard in the thigh.

"Hitting me will not change my opinion, my bondsman," He said the mirth of his observation still in his tone.

She shook her head and went silent, there was no telling a Soua something once they had convinced themselves that something was going on. She just stared straight ahead as the ramp finally began to lower allowing the bright light of day into the staging area.

"Welcome home," She heard in her head and by the smiles that she got the others had taken comfort in the greeting as well.

It was Winter now on Soona, and it was nearing the winter's solstice, the sun Sars playing hide and seek behind her bigger sister Chai in their binary star system. The weather was temperate, only about 110 and the seismic activity minimal. The population of the planet chose this time to travel the planet, visit old headmasters, and in a lot of cases to go hunting. Even when they were not travelling the stars for their prey the Soua hunted, there was a great many challenges right here on their own planet, the mountain deserts held many a formidable opponent for a Soua looking to remain in practice between space faring hunting parties.

The summer was when most of the Taurana's happened, when the untried hunted the Yhi for their graduation to Fausi, when the planet was near too hot to stay, and most left for more temperate climates.

It was the perfect time to return, a time to relax, and to allow the wounds to heal.

As a group the Taysa Taru stepped out into the brightening day, and even Gerard managed to show a spark of interest of the colossal trees that surrounded the port. It was unlike the port in Onona, there were no grasses surrounding the tarmac, no long and open fields giving a measure of space. The port for Taysa had been meant to be hard to find except by the air, the field made from a raw narrow scar in the forest fifty miles from the city.

The party moved away from the ship, each giving their own respects to her for the safe journey home. Gui'Yata and Nobaya moved past Quona to open the doors on the only building in the port, and stood aside as he stepped in. Normally a trip from a port would be on Yimhi, the lizard like bird that was highly popular as local transportation. However, due to the remote location some other means had to be devised to get travelers from the port across the fifty miles of land to the city. Once the city of Taysa had been recognized they had set about procuring several mechanical vehicles for just that purpose, something they could not get while they were outlaws, not without truly and irrevocably breaking the code beyond repair.

They were hovercrafts designed to do the least damage to the surrounding environment and able to travel a good fifty miles per hour even through the boughs of the forest surrounding them. At least it was an hour to the city as compared to the full day it used to take to travel from one to the other, a fact that had often required them to camp either just on the edge of the forest or in the ship. The ship had always been preferable the surface was extremely dangerous for more than short periods of time.

The Quona stepped into the first one sitting in the drivers seat and Gui'Yata sat next to him, Nobaya and Yaha took the back seat. In the second one Yalsa took the helm of the vehicle and Courtney and Gerard joined him. Expertly they backed the vehicles out of the protective structure and onto the tarmac. The cars accelerated smoothly flowing over the ground as a boat would on water, quickly reaching their maximum speed. Quona and Yalsa expertly maneuvered around the boles of the trees creating an ever-shifting path before them toward home. They looked as if they were making a sport out of who could get the closest to the trees without striking them as they sped through the thin undergrowth. The wind tugged viciously at her hair as they went, threatening to drag it out of the loop she had set it into. Courtney glanced over at Gerard who's eyes were all for his surroundings, after a moment he seemed to sense her watching him, and he looked across the thinly padded bench that made up the back seat of the vehicle.

"This is Beautiful!" He said loudly over the wind, and Courtney couldn't help but smile at him.

"Yes it is!" She said as loudly. Gerard's eyes lingered a little longer on Courtney than was comfortable and then he slowly returned his attention to the trees towering over his head.

Courtney couldn't have really said when she first smelled it, it was an old familiar odor, but not one that she associated with this planet. She finally realized what it was that smell represented…Something was burning, and it smelled at first of just wood, and she thought it funny that burning wood would smell the same on two entirely different planets several light years removed from each other. But Courtney went on alert at the smell, something was wrong and the Taysa Taru sensed it as well she could see in the set of her group's bodies.

After just a few more minutes travel the wood was filled with thick white smoke and the air was stiflingly thin of Oxygen. Then another smell permeated the burning wood, the smell of charred flesh and morbidly she thought of just how much that smell was similar between Earth and Soona as well. Courtney slowly stood up in her car, as did her bondsman. Quona and Yalsa both slowed to an abrupt stop nearly sending Courtney in her inattention over the hood of the vehicle. Gui'Yata glanced back at her once sharing a scared and surprised look with each other and then to the spot that the whole group was now fixated. High above them in the large stand of trees, Taysa, their home, was burning!


	2. Devastation

Chapter Two: Devastation

It took the small band nearly a full day to get to the Treetop City through the fire which had spread beyond their town now and had started some of the smaller surrounding trees ablaze as well. Their progress was further hindered by the lack of their usual method of climbing the boles, the Yimhi. The shed where the creatures were housed had been opened and most of the twenty-five Yimhi had been slaughtered there. The slightly purple blood from the beasts was deep and had made the floor of their shed into noxious purple red mud as the survivors had milled about in panic. Some had managed to break free of the shed pushing past their assailants and attempting to flee to the forest beyond the tree bas landing. It did not spare them from the slaughter as the large lumps strewn about the open space attested. Whoever had done this had been very thorough, by the tracks left there had not been a single Yimhi that had made it through. The mud made in yimhi blood was only partly dried which meant that they had missed the attack by maybe a day.

Quona had taken several of their rank and returned to Quarta to retrieve the Yimhi that they had used on their mission. The whole of the group was tense and anxious and the decision was made to start the ascent on foot to their home. They all agreed to try and began the arduous task of climbing the large boles toward the city, Yaha carried Gerard and Gui'Yata carried Courtney as they slowly made their way into the treetops. They had made it about one-third the height of the tree and where taking a small break on a fairly large branch when the others returned with the spare Yimhi in tow. They pushed the Yimhi hard up the tree ignoring the bone jarring leaps. The scene upon their arrival was putting it mildly like walking into a war zone.

Gui'Yata jumped quickly from his mount before it had come to a complete stop running toward the brilliant orange and red flames that leapt for the air and singed the black underside of the canopy above. He shielded his face and eyes as the heat became nearly unbearable and blinded his natural vision. He was forced to stop short of the worst of the conflagration.

He lowered his hands to his sides as he took in the devastation around them, his clawed hands making useless fists of rage. The town that he had thrown away his reputation and standing to create now lay in ashes all around him. Strong now was the odor of burning flesh clogging his senses, telling a tale of the lives that had been lost and for a reason that he could not yet grasp. Gui'Yata looked slowly around him his eyes fixing on the charred remains of a Soua, the plasma burn still visible from his back. The growths that served as their dwellings were shriveled and black and Gui'Yata's sensitive mind could still detect the ghosts of their pain, and that forced him to narrow his reception and blocked any active search he tried to make to detect survivors. From the ashes stood curled wires and the heat screens that had been the primary means of communication with the rest of the world they knew. All around him the heat-dried leaves from the canopy filtered down in a death rattle to be consumed completely by the fire that still burned all around them.

He saw no living creature moving through his still heat-blinded field of vision and that only served to enrage him further. He knew deep down that this was no accident. Fires, beyond the ritual ones lit on special occasions, did not just _happen _on Soona. The trees were fleshy, water laden and just did not catch fire on their own. Even the summer storms, full of lightning that could split the traditional Soua homes, could not bring a sustained fire to them. Only by adding chemicals, plasma and the like could you get the ancient trees to light. 

Then it begged the question how could a town the size that Taysa was, a town filled with fierce hunters and warriors be overcome by whatever force that had hit this place? It made no sense. They had lived in the shadow of death…lived as outcasts for so long that they had become ever vigilant against invading parties. Yet all around him was the proof that the sentinels had been either caught off guard or had been overwhelmed.

Until the truce had been struck between themselves and the Ot Eesan at Onona they had lived in constant threat of dishonorable death if they were found. Many raiding parties had infiltrated their town in those years, killing, maiming, and destroying all that they had worked for. It had touched off a series of increasingly bloody attacks back and forth between the traditionalists and the Sai like himself who had without permission founded another city, one that did not abide by the long established code of conduct that all Soua lived by. 

The code was a set of behavioral rules that had been established after the major tribes had nearly wiped each other off the face of their own planet after two decades of civil war. They had been small differences, but to Onona it had been blasphemy, punishable by death. They had been criminals to their own society. 

The truce had been called by Onona's Ot Eesan as they grew fearful of the swelling ranks young Soua who were starting to rebel within even the long established cities, and fearful of another dark age of Civil War between them. And they had spent five straight days hammering out the details that would quell the growing tide of violence.

Gui'Yata blinked as he heard Nobaya anxiously calling, "Tomakaya! Temasu!" at the top of his considerable lungs. He looked over to see Nobaya heading toward his home, he was oblivious to those around him. Gui'Yata clacked his mandibles together as Nobaya yelled those names, his bondsman and his son. He had bonded just three years ago finding his life-mate in his first mate and sealing his devotion to her for all time. They had been perfect for each other. Tomakaya had provided him a son just a year and a half ago and Temasu had been close to being of age to be taken on a pack ship. Nobaya moved further away from the group still shouting those names in heart wrenching tones of panic.

Courtney bit her lip fighting back the tears as she regarded the smoking ruins, and she forced herself to step down off her own small Yimhi and search for any survivors of this holocaust. As she moved off she noticed the others spurring themselves to action as well searching through the cooling ashes for anything or anyone that could be saved.

For three hours they sifted, they called out, they salvaged what they could. But there was not much left, all of the citizens that they found had been long dead, some charred beyond any hope of recognition, others mostly along the outskirts on the guard posts were found stiff with rigor-mortis and showing signs of scavenger depredation on their flesh. There was evidence all around them of a great fight between the citizens of Taysa and whoever had taken it into their head to attack the city. Plasma burns were rampant over the entire scene, along with some of the more rudimentary mechanical weapons that they found in the bodies of their friends.

As they neared the Gather the devastation was not as great but it still existed, here some of the growths had survived showing fire damage but still maintaining a healthy sheen to them and showing signs of healing already in process. The Gather showed a great many plasma scars, but it was evident, as soon as they saw it that the citizens had made a stand here and had finally won the day. What she found odd was that there was no evidence of any of the attackers aside from the dead bodies and burnt homes. Surely the Taysa Taru had killed many of those who had attacked, yet there were no bodies of the enemies and no real evidence to say just who had been responsible for this massacre. Nobaya returned just as they were about to enter looking weary and upset.

Courtney looked up into his face concern twisting her own features, "Any luck?"

"Our home is but ash," he whispered heavily, "They…were not there, but I do not know if they still live."

"Nobaya?" Courtney's head whipped around as she heard the voice, a voice that was scared and relieved at the same time and neither was a sound she was used to hearing in Soua voices. She gravitated back the direction of the voice, her heart leaping as she recognized it. 

"Tomakaya!" Nobaya shouted, as a slightly larger and heavier figure lurched out of the smoke that shrouded the door of the Gather. Courtney caught up to them just in time to see Nobaya grab the figure by the shoulders and press his forehead to hers, as they entwined their upper mandibles in a rare public show of affection. She was a beautiful Soua just inches taller than Nobaya, she had been cream and peach colored with rust spotting over her body and the same had been on the crown of her head in a pattern that had reminded her of a flying swan with its wings outstretched. Her hair had been very light almost gray in color with just a hint of the same peach color that covered her body. After a moment they returned to a more acceptable public stance still holding each other by the shoulders, "Are you alright?" He asked his bondsman. She nodded slightly unwilling to break their contact looking into his eyes as they stood there, "Where is Temasu?"

"He is safe," She said to him softly, exhaustion clear to hear in her voice. She went silent then not seeming to have the strength even to explain her cryptic statement, and every line of her body told that she was about to the limit of her endurance. Courtney noticed only then that Tomakaya's left arm hung limply at her side. On her shoulder was a glaring wound hastily patched with totant and it was obvious that she had not given the Soyasa enough time to treat it properly. Her concern had been for the city and for the others that had somehow made it through.

That was one thing about Tomakaya that had impressed Courtney, unlike most of the female Soua she knew, Tomakaya was a natural leader and in the Eesan's absence she had taken charge of what could easily have been a total loss situation. 

Usually females felt no desire to be leaders. They were some of the best warriors the planet possessed but they were happy to remain warriors, hunters, and mothers. Most only spent ten rotations in the hunt and then moved on to city defense or duty as crèche teachers, caring for each successive generation of hunters and teaching the young Soua basics of what would be their life purpose of bringing honor to their line in the hunt. There were a few that bucked that trend, Tomakaya was one, and Courtney knew that though young, Yaha would be another such.

Tomakaya turned from them wearily moving back into the space that to this point had been a meeting place and a staging ground. Without a word they all followed the Soua in slowly taking in the remainder of what had been a steadily growing population. The Gather had been converted to a makeshift triage unit, overflowing with injured Soua. 

Most were minor injuries grazing plasma burns cuts from close in fighting with Sasa's and Disa's. Several were severely injured lying in bright pools of their own blood, and the few Soyasa's were inundated with trying to attend them all. Courtney, despite her desire to learn more from Nobaya's bondsman, was pricked by her conscience to break from the group and lend her assistance to the warriors still in dire need of a Soyasa's services. Slowly each of them split up to lend their limited assistance to those steadily working through the most severe cases. Courtney knew nothing but blood for the next several hours and when she had finished she was surprised to see that it was dark outside. She gravitated toward the door stepping into the encompassing blackness. She could just barely make out the sentries, made up of the more able bodied of the injured looking tensely alert for any repeat of the attack that had so devastated their world. She also noticed that by and large the fire had gone out, losing ground to the water saturated trees that made up this primordial forest. She could just make out red embers glowing where some of the hottest parts of the fire had been. She had caught part of Quona's conversation to check the structural soundness of the branches under their home when it became light again. They could regrow the structures but it would do them no good if the branches the city perched on would be unable support the weight of the buildings. Even if the branches somehow had escaped damage many of the buildings were gone and the growths took five to ten years to grow large enough to accommodate a Soua. She sighed suddenly overwhelmed by emotion, and desperately fought to keep from crying in front of the Soua around her. What had happened? Intent on finding out she moved back into the Gather heading for a small bench where the rest of the party was resting.

It was obvious that someone had beaten her to that question for she was in process of explaining the events of that night.

"…After the sun had gone down. The sentinels were posted as they are every night and the rest were in various stages of retiring for the evening. The attackers tore through our sentinels as if they were not there, they were not even given time to shout a warning. They swarmed into the town laying waste to all that would oppose them, many were gunned down before they could gather up a weapon. Those who came fought without honor!

"They used houta to fuel the fires they set ensuring that everything would burn and quickly, some of our finest warriors were trapped in their homes as the fires cooked them alive," She nodded over to one Soua who had been severely burned. "Katasa blasted his way out as did several others but it was thick with flame and still wet with houta. He was doused with burning houta as he won free of his burning dwelling. We survivors made a stand here doing what we could to save our brethren and the town, killing all of the invaders that we could." She looked up into Quona's face, "They had won Quona, their numbers were great. They could have taken us all, but as quickly as they had come they disappeared into the night."

"Who did this?" Quona asked solemnly.

"They were Soua," She answered bitterly.

Quona straightened as if that was the answer that he had been suspecting but did not really want to hear. It was a possibility that they had all touched on in their mind but had been unwilling to voice because of the ramifications such had. They were all hoping that it was a raiding band of Foua or Grawata, two species who were known for setting down on a planet and harrying the residents for a while, and leaving before the Soua could find and kill them.

"Are you certain of this?" Quona said his calm voice belying the tense posture.

She bowed her head, "They were wearing gear for the hunt, they carried Disa's, plasma cannons, raspa's. They chanted war songs and they carried off many 'trophies' of our brothers heads."

"Barbaric," Yaha growled.

"Has the truce been broken then?" Gui'Yata asked suddenly. All eyes were suddenly intent on him and in turn on Quona.

"We cannot jump to that conclusion just yet."


	3. Aftermath

Chapter Three: Aftermath

Nobaya wandered away from the center of the devastation, the hints he had heard of a new civil war heavy on his mind. He had yet to unlock the mystery of who had done this act of dishonorable killing and was not comfortable with the assumption that this was Soua against Soua. There was something askew about the whole business, the pattern did not fit what he remembered of their last fight for survival. Too many holes existed in the information they had to piece together what or who was responsible. He was unable to interpret what he was seeing, he was distracted, his thoughts on things other than the situation at hand.

Nobaya was a tracker, he had built his reputation on finding stories in the dusty prints on dozens of worlds. Finding direction, distance, time between their hunters and the prey by the slightest depression in the earth, the merest hint of a scrape on a tree or the slightest unnatural bend in a branch or blade of grass. He had trekked halfway around continents tracking just the right trophy. For many long rotations he had used that reputation to gain status for his line, reveling in his notoriety. But that was when he was young. He was one of the youngest Taura on Lyonas' pack ship, and he had trained Saru to be Taura for thirteen years. He taught them to track, to hunt the Yhi, to become Fausi, and when that was accomplished continued to train them until they were ready for their Taurana. After the first five rotations as the most noted tracker on the planet, he had grown tired of the constant demands for his time and training, his share of Fausi was often heavier than some of the other Taura. He became irritated by the constant time away from his home world. 

That was one thing about him that most in his society would never understand, he had always been happier planet bound on Soona. He felt that the variety of prey on their own planet was enough to keep him happy. He knew if that truth had ever gotten out that he would be labeled a Souata, a Matron, a female ready to give over the mantle of huntress to raise the young and teach. For a warrior with his reputation, a Sougra, it would have constituted the highest of insults. At least that would be the way of it from the other Sougra. 

The way he saw it a Souata had the more honorable job, they had the distinction of serving many lines, many different distinguished teachers, proud when Saru were chosen from their crèche. Their lineage was deeper more varied than any Sougra or Sougara ever. 

When Endra had first come to him with her wild idea of leaving the city of Donona he had been taken aback. Certainly the idea of starting anew in another city was tempting. It would reduce the chances of another finding out about his aberrant desire to stay on Soona. But he feared for his reputation, he indeed feared for his life. 

He had been a member of several of those posses to retrieve rogues, it was a bloody and humiliating affair for the one caught, and nearly all were caught. They would be returned to Donona only to be found guilty of treason and cursed to throw themselves onto their own blade, as the code of honor dictated. But as he had told Courtney and Gui'Yata, Endra's fervor was contagious. 

He found himself happier in Taysa, his dislike for travel was not an issue in Taysa, and everyone here had a reason to leave his or her own homes. In the first years of living in the City it was considered a death sentence, yet many had found their way to Taysa attracted to the freer style of living. No one questioned him just as no one questioned Tomakaya for being a Sougara, as the female hunters were called, for so long. 

It had attracted him to her immediately, that she was still an active hunter even when she had been sexually mature for nearly ten rotations. She had never bred before she had come to Taysa, for she had found none worthy of her. To avoid complications Tomakaya would hunt off planet during the height of her cycles, not willing to succumb in her lust to what she deemed inferior males. It made her that much more vicious during the hunt, and her reputation rivaled some of the most celebrated Sougra or Sougara in their history. She came from an highly honored line of hunters, and she had many students under her who carried on her line. She was often sought out for her precision and artistry.

Many had been surprised that Nobaya had been able to seduce her at all, they considered her rigid or barren, the only reasons they could come up with for her not choosing at least a breeding partner before now. There had been an immediate attraction between them like the summer storms sudden and unpredicted, because neither of them had been in the hunt for mates. It had been Tomakaya, who had pushed for their bonding, finally finding whom she felt was worthy of her affection and her line. Nobaya could not turn her down, he knew she was the only mate he would ever want, and he could not get enough of her. They had been happily bonded for three years now, and she had produced a fine son in Temasu…Temasu, he sighed, there in lay his current distraction.

Even with Tomakaya's reassurance that the Saru was safe, Nobaya was anxious. He had seen no sign of his progeny since arriving here. If Temasu was spared from the slaughter Tomakaya should have brought the Saru to him by now. Yet she had said no more than, "He is safe," given no more information on where he might be, or why she had not deemed it time for him to see his own son. 

Nobaya blinked finding himself inexplicably standing near the perimeter of their defenses. Nobaya looked out into the night catching glimpses of movement and he felt his blood surge in response, his eyes turning the vague shapes into crouched Soua, waiting patiently and preparing to strike the decimated city all over again. Even knowing that they were the natural creatures of the forest he expected a renewed attack. He tried to rationalize it but his body reacted the same each time his eyes picked up movement. 

Nobaya whirled quickly as he felt a presence near him, relaxing almost as quickly when he found Tomakaya at his side. Nobaya smiled Soua fashion leaning in to rest his forehead on hers. They separated momentarily, Nobaya looking at her then slowly turning his eyes back out into the night active forest.

"You wander away with heavy thoughts," Tomakaya stated turning her eyes out into the dark as well. He nodded before looking back out over the lower boughs of the tree.

There was no surprise in his response to her presence, Tomakaya would have felt his confusion. She was not nearly as adept in her telepathy as Gui'Yata, she was more empathic. The two of them had a special sort of connection, however, one that allowed her access to his thoughts and him to hers. Nobaya turned to face her, "I must ask you of Temasu."

"Temasu is fine," She said in an oddly happy tone.

"But I have not seen him. Is he not in the city?"

"No," She said, "He is not…" Nobaya's confused expression deepened, to which Tomakaya smiled crookedly, "I am sorry, my bondsman, for not telling you this when you first arrived. It seemed inappropriate to speak of happy news when so much ill had taken place here."

"Where is he?" Nobaya asked.

"Kayamoa accepted him for training," She smiled proudly now, "He left for a Pack Ship not two weeks ago."

Nobaya visibly swelled with pride, Kayamoa was the premier trainer at the moment, and he was the Quona of the ship Taya Quama out of Hosmara. That was high honor to have his only son accepted by such, "I am relieved." He said, "I was beginning to think that you kept a great tragedy from me."

"I would never do that to you, Nobaya."

The break of the night before was one of the few that they had for the next two days, all of their spare time was spent recovering bodies and what technology could be salvaged from the wreckage of their lives. Gerard had even stirred himself from his pity to bend to the task that was bigger than him, and obviously of importance to his new found colleagues. Courtney watched as he diligently worked trough the ash, single-mindedly intent on what he had been tasked with. She had given him an idea of what to look for, the dead of course, any kind of equipment that could be salvaged and by no means least to search out any clues as to whom might have been responsible. 

Courtney watched Gerard work a moment longer finding herself squinting as in her mind a suspicion surfaced. Down deep she was sure that he understood what had happened here if not the scope of what it meant. She also suspected that he understood more of the language than he let on. He was an observer, watching intently on their trip back here anytime they did something or spoke or acted. He was feeling out the group, and she was unsure whether that was to find where he fit in here or for some ulterior motive that she could not even guess at. 

Courtney shook off a chill that had nothing to do with the weather and looked back to the rubble at her feet. All told there had been seventy-five killed and 150 injured in the battle, no one had come away unscathed. Taysa was full of walking wounded, and their own small group was the only ones who were physically untouched. The more able bodied of them worked sentry duty or helped tend the more serious injuries or sifted through the rubble for the dead. It was back breaking, heart wrenching, mind-dulling work. They were exhausted, at once wanting to curl up and sleep and afraid to give up driven by the hope that someone else had survived the inferno. Even the crèche had been laid waste killing all but two of the future hunters there. Of the dead, thirty-five had been desecrated, their heads culled as "trophies". And in that event lay another mystery.

As Courtney shuffled through another pile of debris she heard Quona say in his usual calm tone, "It does not make sense," Courtney paused, gravitating back that direction, as she caught the tense undertone to his even words. He was standing in the middle of the dead that had been recovered. They wished to make a count of the dead before taking them into the forest for the death ceremony. Others of the Eesan were there already listening to what was being said, "There are no dead, nothing to show us who may have done this awful thing. I am no longer convinced that the evidence we were left can be believed. I do not believe that this was the work of any Soua. Even rogues only take from the strongest among the group. Twisted though their honor is, they still possess it. The trophies taken here are haphazard; the grade of the warrior is inconsistent." He continued as he pointed out certain bodies among the many to illustrate his point.

"As trophies they took a gravid Souata, a Saru not yet ready for the pack, an old growth tender, beyond his hunting rotations by fifty, all alongside the more prestigious trophies of the sentinels and some of our best hunters.

"There is also no evidence of pilferage, rogues would have taken foodstuffs, textiles, technology to replace what they can no longer service. Yet nothing was taken."

"The Ot Eesan then…or those who still believe we live outside the code," Gui'Yata said persisting in his thought from the night before.

Quona shook his head, "I do not wish to believe that. Those would not take trophies, they would leave our bodies to rot in dishonor rather than mount our heads on a wall," he shook his head repeating, "It makes no sense. This was done with no sense of honor, the code has been broken here beyond mending."

But still the doubts nagged at him, Courtney could see by the look of consternation on his face. She could see the question there, "What if," his face said, "What if the tide of truce had ebbed, and left them high on the land…easy targets, to be dishonored in the worst possible way?"

Had the truce been broken? Butterflies rose up in her stomach at the thought, she remembered all too well the last altercations between the cities. It had been a lot of bloody hell that she had been surprised to survive and she found that she really did not want to do that again. Suddenly he shook his head, "We will leave for Donona in the morning," He said meeting eyes with several of the gathered, "We will speak with them about the circumstances here, and we will find the answers. For now there is much to be done and it will not go away while we only look on it."

They worked long into the morning stacking the dead into carry nets and dragging them into the designated spot for the ceremony to take place at dawn, now only two hours away. It took everyone's help and all the yimhi's and vehicles they had to get the job done before the appointed time. It was a solemn moment for them all, watching as the bodies slowly disintegrated from the chemical they had been doused with as Quona chanted the prayer for the lost. 

The rest of the day they spent cleaning up anything unusable hauling it far away to be buried under the overhang of a boulder. By nightfall it was finished, the only thing left on the platform was about twenty-five growths that were deemed healthy enough to survive. None of the communications equipment was in working order, it seemed the fire had severed the overland connection to the transmitter and was estimated to be several days in the repair. The gather stood out in the dark glowing slightly green in the darkening evening, the scars from the fight strangely black against its surface. Courtney was tired, extremely so, but she pushed herself to make one last set of rounds in the Soyara before calling it a night. Automatically she headed to Katasa's bunk first, but was taken aback when she did not see the Soua lying there. Again she had to remind herself that he had lost his battle with his injuries and had been one of the bodies they had committed to ash.

"Damn it," she said feeling again deeply the downside of being a Soyasa. 

She finished her rounds quickly and slowly headed out the back entrance of the Gather. She stretched for long moments looking out toward the dark forest that surrounded what was left of their city. Her eyes moved over what she could see of the railed fence that surrounded the platform. Her heart leapt as she caught sight of something sitting on the edge of the platform. She slowly moved over as she recognized the shape.

Courtney found it be Gerard sitting with his legs dangling over one edge of the city's platform. He was looking out and down into the darkened forest all around them. She sat down next to him, silent and looking out at the dark herself, listening for a moment to the sounds of the forest, trying to drown out the moans that came from the Gather. She did not like to think of Soua possessing weakness, that was the one thing about being a Soyasa that bothered her, she saw the Soua at their weakest, because if she saw them at all they were in bad shape.

Finally she looked over at Gerard who was seemingly ignoring her, "You gonna jump or something?"

She watched trying not to laugh when he visibly jerked, realizing that he had not even been conscious of her presence. After a moment he settled, shaking his head, "No… I was just…watching…listening. This place is so different…from anything I've known."

Courtney pursed her lips suppressing her smile, "I felt the same when I first arrived at Donona," She looked at him shaking her head, "All I could think about was how could such an advanced race maintain such equilibrium with their surroundings? How did they prevent the destruction of their natural surroundings."

He looked back at her, "Yeah something like that." He said smiling with small quirk. He was now staring at her oddly.

She blinked trying to deny what she saw there, then she changed the subject looking away, "You really shouldn't be out here beyond the sentries. What ever force hit this place could still be out there, waiting to finish what they started."

"What did happen here?" Gerard asked.

"How much have you picked up on?" She asked testing his ability to at least understand the language.

"Not enough…what little I got was enough to scare me," he admitted, "I know that this is the city that you told me about, that it was a shock to find it in this condition, but beyond that…I didn't catch it." He paused looking away and licking his lips.

"They were overwhelmed by a force of greater numbers than those still here. You saw the results."

"Any ideas who did this?"

Courtney shook her head, "Could have been rogues…" she trailed off, as if she did not believe that, "It could have been the central government, or someone representing them. See…"

"These creatures are living outside the rules, or at least used to until they were 'pardoned' by the Central Government."

"You've been holding out," Courtney said gruffly, "You have picked up more than I thought." He smiled in a shy way that touched Courtney somehow, "Why didn't you say something?" 

He shrugged now, "I guess I was hoping that this was a bad dream and I could just data dump all this crap when I woke up. I'm realizing now that it is not going to happen," he paused again swallowing hard, and Courtney felt a lump in her own throat at the lost look in his eyes, "I'm stuck, I'm stuck in a society of killers, with no hope of learning how to be like them. All I can really think of right now is going home."

Courtney nodded biting her lip, "I know you want to go, I know, but the Soua will not make a special trip just to drop you off. They are stubborn about combining trips within the same sector." she paused a moment, "You can learn, I know you can," Courtney said trying to buoy his spirit, "I did it. Believe me you do not want to be protected from the others for the rest of your life. You have to learn to stand on your own."

He shook his head, "I don't have your aptitude for this," And then he surprised her when he said, "And I refuse to run around in a loincloth for the rest of my days, socially acceptable or not." And then he laughed shortly. Courtney got a visual herself and could not help but laugh at the image.

She sobered, "I think we can work around that. Will you try though? You're beginning to worry me."

He turned to face her his brown eyes locking her own, "Courtney, I am still amazed by what you have accomplished here. Surviving in this society, even what little I have seen of it had to be tough, extremely so." 

He reached out a hand to touch the scars on her cheeks, and then moved up to the one between her brow. Courtney closed her eyes and felt him trace a line softly down her nose with one finger. An electric shiver went through her at that touch, as the hand moved back to her scarred left cheek. "You have got to be one of the strongest women I have ever met in my life."

Courtney blinked suddenly and her body jerked slightly as a feeling totally foreign to her rose up from her still very human side. She found herself fighting that feeling. Gerard seemed to sense her confusion and dropped the contact. He rose slowly beside her self-conscious about his action rose beside her, smiled down in embarrassment and turned back toward the Gather. Courtney slowly stood and watched him go. She stood there motionless for long moments trying to calm her suddenly racing heart, and slow her breathing. That was a feeling that she had not felt in over a decade, something she had not felt since she had met her husband. That same physiological reaction, "No," she said sharply under her breath.

"Not again!" She growled, denying what she had felt, refusing to fall into that same trap again. That was how she had gotten hurt the last time that was how she had ended up being abused.

She looked up suddenly catching Gui'Yata looking at her, but before she could recover he nodded once and disappeared into the dark.


	4. Accusations

Chapter Four: Accusations

Three days later:

Donona was just as Gui'Yata remembered it, its cluster of growths tightly packed around the junction of several large branches. The two spires shining as they rose through the canopy above, gathering energy to help run the city. Looking up at its magnificence he could just make out the heat signatures of the citizens moving between the dwellings and businesses.

Gui'Yata wondered vaguely if his old residence was still standing unoccupied, for that matter if Sora's was. He snorted under his breath, sure that they had long since been parceled out to some other promising Saru selected for the Pack. Still if given the time he would like to go and see it.

They traveled slowly up one of the large lifts that had been installed recently in the hollow of the largest tree. The party was silent as the lift moved, none of them sure how this was going to go. Certainly throwing the accusation that the Ot Eesan or someone supported by them had attacked Taysa, was dangerous, extremely so. Even after their acceptance as a city, these Soua, rooted in their traditions looked upon them only as Sai, only tolerated to maintain the peace. If not put in the utmost of respectful inquiries they could easily be killed. They reached the top and moved more swiftly toward the Doana.

There was only the four of them this time, Quona, Courtney, Yaha, and himself. Everyone else had stayed back to help with reparations to the city and the tending of those who would survive the attack. The human had been left behind, Quona had insisted. Gerard was nothing in this society, he held no saving Yanahara status, he had set no foot on the road to becoming a Soua in Clusu flesh. He had shown no interest in learning to live in their society. The Ot Eesan would not take kindly to another clusu on the planet, and if seen he would surely be cut down. The longer he remained hidden the better off they all would be. Hopefully they would be able to schedule a "hunt" in Earth's sector within the next rotation or so and redeposit him on his own planet.

Gui'Yata pulled his Yimhi up short as Quona stopped in front of him at the base of the steps leading up to Doana. He watched as the older Soua, his own Grandfather jumped lithely to the ground, pausing for the rest of them to catch up. One by one they all dismounted gathering behind their Quona. Gui'Yata looked down at Courtney seeing the sour expression and the heat of anger in her face. He looked up again at the Doana. There were many unpleasant memories for them both that centered on this growth. The first and most Poignant of those was their bonding forced on them by the very Ot Eesan they were coming to get answers from regarding the attack.

He glanced down once more seeing the uncovered scar on her forearm. In this City she could not attempt to hide the scar. She was not allowed to be ashamed of her bonding here, and she was too notorious for this crowd, too well known to try and pass it off as non-existent. His gaze moved back to his hunting mate, seeing that her face had now smoothed of all emotion. It was an act that she had perfected after long years of visiting the more root bound cities that surrounded them.

A noise, the sound of weapons being drawn brought his attention sharply back to his surroundings. All around them now stood a ring of Huada, weapons at the ready and more than one of them looked eager to strike them down.

"What is the meaning of this?" The Quona asked indignantly, "We are here on official business with the Ot Eesan."

The Huada Magara stepped to the fore of the protective ring of Soua. His face reflected that he still held ill will after all the rotations between about Quona's defection. An act that killed many Huada in the process, "None of your treacherous words, Lyonas," He spit, "Again you bring dishonor to your line!"

The Quona's head tilted ever so slightly to one side as he said, "You speak in riddles, Magara. That is unbecoming of one who is usually more sharply tongued."

Magara's eyes narrowed, "Inside!" He ordered vehemently.

They moved into the twilight of the city's oldest growth, and again the feeling of age came down upon them, the smell of many rotations of hunters following the code living and dying for their people, contributing to the splendor of this hall. The escort did not leave them at the doors as was customary, but continued on providing their ruling body protection against what they currently deemed a threat.

"You are bold to so openly enter this city after such a cowardly act of treason."

Gui'Yata clacked his mandibles together. Again they were being accused of an act of which they had no knowledge. What was going on here?

"Treason?" Quona thundered, "You talk to me of treason when you break the truce that you initiated? You who have decimated our city and left many of our citizens dead?"

Gui'Yata winced inwardly. This was not what they had planned on when they came here, they had intended this to be a fact finding excursion, a gentle probe into whether the Ot Eesan had ordered the slaughter of Taysa's citizens. This outburst was a step in the wrong direction and the thought that they might not walk out of Doana was coming closer and closer to a certainty. 

Gui'Yata winced again as the Ot Quona stood indignant at the Lyonas' tone, "You fling accusations?" The grizzled Soua growled, "How fortuitous that you visit us now, how coincidental."

He paced before them like an angry cat, "Just yesterday a large band of Soua attacked Donona field laying waste to four short range jump Mecca and heavily damaging the Taya Menanu. She will be unable to make her projected jump time for Pack this summer, her repair will take four moon cycles to correct."

All but Quona looked at each other fearful… had the remaining citizens taken matters into their own hands? Had they formed a retaliatory force and come here for revenge? Had their efforts here been undermined by the more hot-blooded of the Taysa? Certainly they would not, Quona had forbade any such action until a source of trouble could be confirmed. Even if they had they would not have gotten ahead of their own party's arrival.

The Ot Quona had gone on, "It is you and your people who again break the rules, who trample the generous peace offering this Council has made. It is you who have broken the truce!"

Gui'Yata looked over as Courtney drew a sharp breath. She looked up at him locking his eyes as she leaned in and spoke to him solely in English, "It wasn't them!" She whispered.

"How can you be so sure? They could just be trying to cover their guilt." Gui'Yata replied feeling defensive. 

"Gui'" Courtney said, "Why, if they were guilty would they try to cover it up? They did not when we were at war the last time. Look at them. They're angry, and scared, it is not an act, it is not because they are guilty. Something has upset their lives, something they consider beyond the code."

Gui'Yata stared at his partner for a long time assessing her words as much as he was assessing her body language. She was confident in her assessment of this situation. Slowly he turned his eyes to the Ot Eesan, opening his reception to receive the chaotic thoughts drifting through the air, ricocheting back and forth between the members. One, his eyes turned the direction of the vivid images he received, the one on the far left, he had been at Donona field when the attack had occurred. Gui'Yata just noticed how his sword arm hung limp at his side. Through his head ran a series of images, some sharply etched in the mind of the Soua. Gui'Yata caught a repeated loop of many bodies running and fighting, figures dancing as they doused the helpless Taya sleeping in her berth. One of the figures suddenly lurched into close-up, as if the warrior had leapt at one of the aggressors. It was without a doubt a Soua…Soua had attacked Donona Field, and the Ot Eesan thought it had been them. If they did not convince the council otherwise there would be an all out war to eradicate the city of Taysa and the threat they were thinking it had become.

He leaned closer to Courtney as he whispered back to her in English, "They _were_ Soua, our brothers and sisters were right in their assessment."

Gui'Yata looked up realizing that it had become deathly quiet in the Doana and he heard as his comment echoed off the high ceiling of sightless eyes watching the proceedings. Both the Council and Quona Lyonas were staring angrily at him.

"You will speak _Sou_ when you are in the presence of this council, Sai!" The Ot Quona hissed, pausing a moment before saying, "What did you feel was so important that you would disgrace this hall with the Clusu's language?"

Courtney looked up sharply now, but she held her tongue, not disgorging the angry words that Gui'Yata could feeling roiling in her head.

Gui'Yata looked back at the council bowing his head in a posture of submission and apology, "Taura Raha has pointed out that we have both been touched by the same menace, Ot Quona."

The Ot Quona's whole presence was fixed on Gui'Yata now. The statement had gotten his attention, "What menace would you be speaking of?"

"Quona Lyonas would know better than I the details, Ot Quona." Gui'Yata expertly deferring honor back to his Grandfather and just barely escaping an unforgivable breach in etiquette. He felt rather than saw the Ot Quona's eyes leave him and move back to Lyonas.

Gui'Yata looked up at Quona seeing him blink as the connection became clear to him, one that had been obscured by his own preconceived notions about what had taken place at Taysa.

"A large force, reportedly of Soua overran the City of Taysa, killing Sougra and Saru alike. They succeeded in burning many of our homes, and threatened the support structure of our city with houta fed fires. Seventy-five of our citizens were lost, all else were wounded in the attack. The attackers, took trophies, haphazardly, Souata, Saru, Sougra, none were exempt from the culling."

The Ot Eesan was listening intently now, and Gui'Yata caught the surprised looks from many of the Ot Eesan. The Ot Quona's brow ridges furrowed, "Trophies were taken at Donona Field as well. The circumstances were odd, even for Sai such as you. I still do not believe that you were not involved with this killing however."

"Our People were specifically ordered not to take these matters into their own hands."

"But you are here and they are there. Who is to say that they were not rallied to action?"

Quona shook his head, "Ot Quona, a party that large Taysa no longer has, only fifty of the remaining citizens are in any condition to hunt at all much less make a full scale assault on Donona field. All were still in Taysa when we departed to come here, and there is no way that even had they, that they would have arrived before us."

"Then you did not attack us?" The Ot Quona seemed confused by this.

"No Ot Eesan, we did not."

The older Soua paused only a moment before replying, "I assure you that they Council has had no reason to bring death to your people, to this point there have been no breaches of the accord set into place by our parties." He looked down a moment, "It would seem then that some other faction has attempted to pit us against each other for its own inscrutable ends."

After that the Huada were excused, as the Taysa proved not to be the threat they first thought it was. The conversation then turned to discussing possible assailants, along with possible solutions to the problem they now faced. Their next best guess was the rogue population, and that scared many of the older Soua in the Doana, for it meant that their estimates of the Rogue population in the area were severely less than what the attacks were proving their numbers to be. The discussion lasted well into darkness and they were more than ready to take the generous offer of lodging before returning home.

Courtney sat on the simple pad that made up her bed, busily taking the braids out of her hair. She wanted to feel less like a Soua at the moment. A feeling that overwhelmed her every time she came to this city again. Gui'Yata lounged across from her chewing slowly on his meal and regarding the ceiling. As she loosened the last braid she set about brushing out her knee length reddish brown hair mulling over the conversation.

Finally she spoke, "Why is it that every time we come here I feel about a hair's breadth from death?"

"We always come here under dire circumstances, your feeling probably has merit," Gui'Yata replied pausing in his chewing, "You did well not to rise to the Ot Eesan's bait."

"It was a struggle believe me… there is already enough bad blood between me and that council. They still do not believe me worthy of being a Soua, even if I have passed all the tests set before me,"

"And that will probably never change, Raha," Gui'Yata said in his unflappable logic. He sat up staring at her again, just as he had the night before they had left to come here. Courtney frowned, as she knew that he had questions, one he was unsure how to pose. 

Courtney was sure that this had something to do with Gerard's presence among them now. She knew that he noticed the growing attraction between the two humans in his life, but did he approve? She still to this day wondered just how deep Gui'Yata's feelings ran for her. He had escaped Donona because he had felt his people were being unduly harsh on him, placing him in bonding with her. That placed a restriction on his ability to mate, for he was to know no other. So he had fled and yet when they had established Taysa, when he was free to mate to whichever female would accept him, he hadn't. That bothered her, and while he had made no further mention of his unusual attraction to her since just after her impromptu Raya she still felt that attraction was holding him back.

"You look as if you have a question," Courtney said trying to spurn him to speak his mind.

"You are…becoming closer to Gerard," It was a statement, and she could hear the confusion in his voice, "I knew that you liked him." It wanted to be a teasing tone but did not quite manage it.

"Well being that he is the only other human on the planet…I am not sure whether it is just a physical attraction or something more…emotional."

Gui'Yata looked down and nodded.

"How do you feel about that?" she prodded.

He looked up at her sharply, "We are incompatible," He shrugged trying to seem disinterested in the topic, he did not succeed, and Courtney knew it, "It is good that you have someone now."

"And you as yet do not…why?" Courtney asked bluntly.

He snorted, "I have not been accepted yet."

"Gui'Yata…you have been hanging around me too long, you've learned how to lie, but you're not good at it."

He smiled at her, "I am jealous," He admitted, "Of you having Gerard now…That you divide your attentions between us. You have been my Raha for so long, been my partner in all things but the mating. I have grown attached to having you near me, having your advice and your ear. Your style of thinking is refreshing and I relish our hunts together. And that is why at times I find that being with another just feels…odd."

Courtney flushed red, flattered by his comment. 

"I have been accepted, four times since Taysa was founded." 

"I did not know that. You have hidden the fact well, even from me."

"I have had to be discreet, even from you. There are too many traditionalists that visit now, a bonded male mating outside of his bond… that would be reported to Donona immediately and I felt that they would revoke our status, they would make the city one full of Taysa Taru and without any legal standing. My latest mate was gravid when we departed…she was among those killed during the raid."

"I'm sorry," Courtney said feeling bad now for having pushed the issue.

He shrugged again, "I do not know that the child was mine…she was a traditionalist when it came to the mating rituals. I felt no emotional attachment to her or the child. I did my duty, contributing. As yet I have not found one with whom I wish to remain for the rest of my days. Nobaya makes that look easy. I would rather pretend our bond is legitimate…than take another…for the moment. You are much more fun to be around."

Courtney looked down, "I will not be around so long as you, my friend. We are not as long lived as the Soua."

She watched as he frowned, "I know this, and this is another reason that you should find your happiness as it is presented to you. If Gerard goes back to Earth, as he has indicated, you will be alone again. Or do you yearn to return to your former home?"

Courtney shook her head adamantly in the negative, "I have no desire to return permanently to Earth. The only thing I wish to do there is finding the rest of the ATP and rid your people of their threat. I would hate to have to suggest closing such prime hunting grounds."

"Then take advantage of the time that he has here," Gui'Yata nodded, "and do not worry about my feelings on this issue." 


	5. The Massacre

Chapter Five: The Massacre

Silently they moved through the sparse underbrush. Bodies moving to either side of him kept time with his own quick pace. He glanced one way and then the other seeing his Clan all around him. He smiled grimly, sucking the humid air through his teeth as he ran. He listened to the soft clicks barely carried by the dense atmosphere. They relayed quickly instruction, direction, and distance in tongues he knew well. They were close now, so very close to their next objective. They were closer still to beginning a much needed cleansing of this world. They would instigate the factions that existed, get them to fight each other and when it all was done the planet would be theirs.

It would be quiet, peaceful, devoid of the electric hum that emanated from their communication equipment. Gone would be the roar of plasma drives as the space fairing ships came and went from their many destinations, and the noise of hovercars as they passed like well fed krratla between the trees near their home. It would be returned to the way that it was, the way that they remembered it. That was so very long ago that it was only a shared clan memory, passed genetically to each successive generation. He would make it that way again. He had shown them how, now the Clan just needed to put it into action.

He pushed on leaping over and pushing aside branches until the objective came into view. Vines grew heavy over the opening between two tremendous slabs of rock that marked the entrance to the caverns. It was hard to make out in the eternal twilight those precariously balanced boulders, odd because not much rock was found in the deep forest. Again somewhere in the long dimmed past these had been moved here, peeled from the baked and flaking skin of the planet's mountain desert. 

They had been placed here to mark the Haven, to welcome the weary travelers to the safety of the caverns that bored deep into the ground. That had been its purpose upon conception before their brethren had taken to the trees finding easier living conditions above most of the life that threatened their existence. The Masters had followed shortly thereafter, dropping down from the sky and taking large numbers of the then simple planet-bound hunters for their own gains amongst the stars. 

He paused watching as the rest of the clan pounded on toward the stones marking their next conquest. They easily dispatched the several sentries near the gate, hidden amongst the tree boles and leafy ferns. He smiled wickedly in satisfaction, as they fell without an alarm being raised. The Clan was good at this kind of hunting, very good, better than the Brethren ever were.

The Brethren had forgotten what it meant to be amongst the living earth, forgotten how to commune with and live off of the bounty of their own lands. Tantalized by the Masters with the unbelievable visions of other worlds teeming with prey to hunt, they had become bored with the prey on their home planet. The Brethren had taken the technology forcefully from the Masters and used it to break through the gravitational well searching amongst the stars for ever greater challenges. It was now a dogma that ruled their hunting patterns and shaped their lives. 

The Clan had renounced that way, remaining with the traditions that the Brethren had forsaken, learning from it and profiting from the experience that it gave them. In turn they had been shunned by their former brethren, left behind by the advancements that widened the gap between their cultures. He looked again at the Haven, it had been theirs not so long ago, less than fifty rotations had passed since they had been forced out of the last bastion of their traditional homes. They had been ousted by outcasts from the Brethren's souring society, outcasts that cheated death by running from their own strict code.

The swarm poured through the narrow opening to their newest target. He listened as the alarm finally sounded, too late to save the Brethren residing in the Clan's ancestral home. The battle cries were deafening but could not smother the screams of dying Brethren and the elated clicks of Clan at the ease at which they had overcome the group residing within.

He stepped in watching as the Clan danced about the pile of dead bodies at their feet, they took their quota of heads and retreated uncaring of the survivors left behind. They would wonder… who would do such a thing? Then they would come to the obvious conclusion, that the general population had done this, that they had reached out from their distant city and smote them, to check their growing population, to keep them in line. They would gather what was left of their forces and retaliate against them, taking the Brethren one step closer to oblivion. That thought warmed him with pride, their progress was great, they had succeeded where past generations had failed.

Courtney shifted again in her saddle realizing just how old and spoiled she had become. It used to be that she could ride for literally days before feeling the first hint of stiffness or soreness in her body. They had been on the trail for four hours only and already her back was arguing against further travel. She grinned to herself, how ironic.

They had concluded their business with Donona nearly a week prior, straightening out the misunderstanding between them was one of the few challenges they had faced during their stay there. The largest had been the next course of action to take in finding who had accomplished such well planned and executed attacks on both Taysa and Donona. Eesa Oana had been quick to suggest leveling the areas that they were known to be hiding. Many of the Ot Eesan agreed, and despite their own protests the motion was carried. The Taysa Taru had come away from the meeting disappointed. They had agreed that the Rogues were the next, most likely suspects in the attacks, but did not agree that outright aggression would solve their problem.

Quona had quietly ordered them to intercept the Rogue leadership, to talk to them about the attacks and the suspicion that had been placed on the rogues themselves. They had to make haste however or they would be beaten there by Donona. The Ot Eesan would certainly send one of the surviving ships into the area dropping a large number of Soua to finish off the threat that the Rogues posed. Courtney thought it an excuse, a convenience that gave them the power to wipe out the group once and for all. Quona was intent to keep that from happening, to even enlist the Rogues help if they were not responsible. Enlist them to help root out the source of this current problem.

So here they were. They had stopped by Taysa on the way to the most well established Rogue encampment at Gui'Yata's request. There had been someone there that he insisted they must bring with them if they were going to be successful in the contact of the highly volatile group that made up the rogues.

Courtney looked past the many swaying Yimhi bodies from her own short mount to the Soua in the lead of their group. Gui'Yata had introduced him as Popau, which meant sapling, a former rogue who had been pardoned recently of his crimes and had come to live at Taysa where he would more easily be accepted. She had thought him a child when she had first met him, he was barely taller than her and thin. It was as if he had stopped growing before his second rotation.

His diminutive stature was the reason he had become a Rogue. He had been deemed too sickly to ever become a thriving hunter and it was thought that the resources offered were being wasted on teaching him. His Souata had slated him for Grapada, euthanasia, or the closest thing to it in this society, a quick and relatively painless death at her own hands. Somewhere deep down he had rebelled against that verdict, though he had always followed the code before. That was before it had become a personal sacrifice, and he found himself not wanting to die so soon in his short life. The very night he had been given the verdict he escaped the crèche. Rogues kept eyes and ears in the cities it seemed, looking for disgruntled or shunned citizens to swell their ranks. Crèches were prime grounds as often Soua society rejected sickly or deformed Saru before they could become warriors, and before they could pass on their traits to weaken another generation. An agent had tracked him down shortly after his escape and offered him life amongst the Rogues.

Popau's coloring was much the same as Endra's had been, very scarlet stripes and speckles over his body and his hair had the same color barely discernable under the glossy smoke gray. Courtney wondered if they might have been dammed by the same mother or sired by the same father. Both had been originally from Donona. His eyes were startling compared to most of the Soua she had seen, they were bright yellow, and no hint of orange graced his eyes. It was eerie.

He had not said more than ten words since they had left Taysa, seeming introspective about this return to the Haven. The shelter it seemed had a long history, one that even the Soua themselves could not recall all of. It now housed the rogues in fine fashion. It was well defendable even from heavy assault as had been proved many times in the past. No attempt to root out the Rogues and erase their presence from this planet had been successful.

Courtney thought again about the Rogues, and in turn she began to think about Sora. Shortly before their party had left for Earth Sora had reluctantly confided in her a secret. It seemed that he had been approached at some point after his unfortunate accident, by a Rogue representative and was offered a better life amongst them. But that had been a point in his life where he had been adamant about returning to the society that had treated him so badly. Sora had been determined to become a proper Soua, and he had been insulted at the Rogues offer. Sora had killed the Rogue, as the code had dictated outraged that they considered him so weak and turned the body over to the Huada.

Sora had been so reluctant to admit that to her, afraid to lose face even in her eyes. He had been carefully watched after that, both for any further contact and for any signs that he might consider the offer and leave.

Courtney felt that pang again. It happened every time she was reminded of Sora. There was always that part of her that would feel guilty about him, about the way that he died. She constantly tried to answer the questions that rattled around in her head, was there something more that she could have done? Were there signs of regression that she had missed? She had noted the signs of his returning dementia when it was too late to try and reverse them, when he was mortally wounded and offered himself as a sacrifice so that they could win free of the planet and return here to Soona. They were regrets that would be with her the rest of her days.

Courtney refocused her eyes as the party came to a halt and her Yimhi did likewise nearly running over the mount in front of her. She looked up and past the group her jaw dropping slightly at the sight that now faced them. Two enormous stones, great rectangular slabs nearly four yards wide leaned against each other in precarious balance. They looked at any moment to come crashing down Their great red hides were obscured by the pulpy green vines draping nearly to the ground in front of the entrance. The mouth of the entrance was dark, though Courtney thought there should have been some light burning there. Then again why? There was no need for light for the Soua, they would be perfectly comfortable in pitch black. The hills to either side were lush with thick low-lying growths, ferns and fungus alike thriving in the half-light under the high and tightly woven canopy. She knew that they had arrived at their destination, just by the odd stones which were not of this area.

Gui'Yata, on his mount moved up beside her, "So this is the Haven," Courtney whispered without looking at him. She heard him grunt distractedly and she looked over at his face seeing a look of concern on his face, "Gui' What's wrong?" She asked in English

He frowned, "There are no sentries about," He looked down at her finally, "And it is too quiet. Something is wrong here." Courtney's gaze whipped back to the dark entrance to the Haven, only a curiosity before, now Gui'Yata's observation made it a foreboding sight.

Slowly Popau moved forward again picking his way slowly to the vine draped entrance. His Yimhi ducked the vines and he pushed the curtain aside as it slid down the bird's hide. Each in turn did the same finding Popau stopped just inside the entrance staring into the dark. Courtney could only puzzle what they were looking at, for it was too dark for her to see unassisted. She reached into the pack behind her pulling out her mask and powering it up she put it to her face. She gasped at the devastation those infrared images showed her. Bodies were strewn about haphazardly left where they landed upon death. The smell of houta was in the air and the remnants of fires fought the bedrock for purchase, slowly losing ground to the material that refused to burn. Here again were the signs that had been constant throughout the attacks. No bodies of the attackers were present, though it would be hard to tell rogue from their attackers, none were known to any of the party. 

Popau slid from his mount, stepping through the bodies searching each for any signs of life, his small body was rigid as he regarded the scene all around him. Slowly the party around her dismounted and she did the same, grimacing at the feel of pooled blood beneath her feet. It was so deep that it overcame her low sole and oozed in between her toes. All around her there were headless bodies and again trophies were taken from any and all that the attackers had killed.

She moved between the bloody piles nearer where Popau now stood staring down at one of the bodies near the back of the entryway. Courtney frowned wondering what was so fascinating about this particular one. She watched obliquely, not wanting to be caught intruding on the warrior. He already was uncomfortable around her, and she knew that he did not like her because she was a Clusu in Taura's clothing. The small Soua crouched down over the body one that was slightly taller and heavier than he was, he began clicking and whistling softly, and she recognized the sound as lament for the dead. She looked over again as he reached out to the body moving the fleshy strands of hair away from the face of the Soua. He then moved his hand to the outstretched arm of the warrior still clutching a sasa and slowly turned it over. There was a scar on that arm, a bonding mark, and Popau turned his own arm over, his hand balled into an angry fist exposing the matching scar on his own arm. Courtney drew a shocked breath in and quickly looked away as the Soua's head whipped her direction, she had covered her social slip by act pretending that her reaction was over the misshapen form of one of the Soua that had been killed. After a few moments she heard him return to what he had been doing, his lament beginning again. Courtney slowly turned back around watching him from the corner of her eye as she stooped occasionally to look through the piles of bodies for any that might still be living.

He was signing something over the Souata's body and then he reached down again, pulling an ornament from one of her dreadlocks. He then stood quickly detaching himself from the fallen bondsman and turned Courtney's direction. He caught her as she helplessly stared at him, unable to look away from him, from the pain she saw ill hidden on his face. Courtney straightened still staring at him, and slowly he took the ornament rolling it between his slim fingers and placed it on one of his own fleshy strands of hair pushing it up high on the lock until it was even with his eye. The act had cut him and slowly a green line of blood moved from the ornament down to the tip of the strand of hair. His hands fell to his sides as he continued to stare at Courtney. Courtney said nothing, but instead signed a formal sorrowful phrase for his loss, the sign of quick passing to the next hunt. He blinked as if surprised at her knowledge of the silent phrase and then nodded once solemnly. Popau moved quickly away after that showing no other signs of his loss.

The losses suffered here in the Haven had been greater than any loss so far, whoever had attacked here it seemed had succeeded in wiping out the entire Rogue population of the area. A feat even Donona's great number had not been able to accomplish. Courtney had discovered several survivors amongst the hundreds of dead at their feet. She had done what she could for them, ill prepared to deal with another massacre, only bringing her basic Soyasa kit with her. She was going to have to return with a full kit later in the day, and fervently hope that they would survive so long. Courtney had stayed behind tending the brutal wounds of the several whom had survived the massacre. The rest had gone off to search the large complex of caverns and tunnels.

Courtney sat back as she finished the last stitch closing the foot long gash in the Abdomen of the not quite conscious Soua she was currently working on. She wiped away the nervous sweat that had beaded up on her forehead. The others had been gone now for several hours, and her situation here was disappointing to say the least. She and the others had moved the ten survivors to a small cul-de-sac off the main entrance, a place away from the bodies and free of the stench of houta and death. They had lit torches so that she could work more easily with her visual sight on the few Rogues still living. She had been treating them ever since. Now only four were left of the original ten, and she saw signs from several of those that told her that they would not make it to the dawn. Again she was reminded of how much she hated this part of being a Soyasa, she tended to be way to empathic of their pain, and took each death personally. Several of them had died even as she had worked to save them, to stop their bleeding and their pain. Now she was weary, weary from the work, weary from the death, and tired of what seemed to be the longest day of her life.

Courtney sighed looking about her at the shroud-covered bodies of the Rogue Soua around her, she looked down with tears in her eyes again. She sniffed and shook her head putting a tight control on her emotions, as she had perfected so well since coming to live on this world. She had noticed something of the warriors and Saru she saw about her. Nearly all of the Sougra and Souata, with very few exception, were older, and had one or another deformity that would limit them as a hunter. Most of the Saru were normal healthy youngsters, sporting few of the infirmities of the older Soua she saw here. But there seemed to be few in between the two generations of Rogues, few teenagers, fewer young adults, and those she saw at those ages possessed deformities of their own. Surely this colony was well enough established that many generations should be living here together. She began to ponder the implications of that when a soft scuffing sound drew her out of her consternation.

Courtney whirled around, Sraha extended and sword in her other hand, unsure of what she would find lurking in the dusky passages at her back. She slowly moved away from her charge, hoping that this was one of the party finding their way back to check on her. She wished that she had time to put her mask on and illuminate the person intruding on her work. She stood tensely at the ready, for long moments no other sound was heard and she could detect no motion. She heard the scuffing again nearer her but still outside of the circle of light the torches had created for her. There was a dull thump, followed again by the dragging sound and slowly a figure lurched into the wan light.

It was a Soua, but not one that she recognized. He was old, at least Quona's age, grizzled and grayed, but unlike Lyonas this Soua was stooped over with heavy scarring across his back some of which extended over his right shoulder. His right arm was a shriveled bony appendage shorter by a third than his left arm ending in a hand that was stunted, stubby, and clawless. Strapped to that wrist was a rigid knife nearly as long as the arm it was on, in some semblance of her own Sraha but not as elegant. His locks were nearly ornaments free that only a few actual bone rings on the locks that were nearest his cheeks. It seemed that the scarring on his right side was related because the right side of his face was a mass of twisted flesh taut against his skull and jaw. Instead of having two independent mandibles of that side of his face he possessed tusks that grew from the skin at odd angles where the end of the mandible should have been. There were several fresh cuts on the old Soua's body speaking tales about his encounters with he attackers.

He showed neither regality nor arrogance, which was something that she had been used to seeing in the older Soua, especially of the Ot Eesan. He looked confused seeing her standing there, but only for a moment. With speed she had not credited to his handicapped body he rushed at her holding the wrist blade stiffly at his side intent it seemed on skewering her. Courtney reacted instinctively leaping up high as he reached her narrowly avoiding that blade. She lifted one leg high and brought it down at the base of the Stooped Soua's neck flattening him to the deck. She backed away quickly out of his slashing range seeming to predict the backhand from the old Soua trying to take her ankles off at the joint. He leaned back onto his haunches and deftly jumped to his feet and twirled to face her in the same motion.

"I do not want to fight you, Eesa," She said in a low carrying voice, using the formal title for one who was sure to hold the position. He looked at her with only a momentary shock before hunching into a low defensive stance.

"Have you not done my people enough harm," He growled, "You would come and hasten the deaths of more of my warriors?"

Courtney squinted at him, "I am a Soyasa, I tried to help them."

"You lie, Clusu," He hissed, "You try to cover your treachery with false acts of good will. I have seen what you have wrought, you cannot lie to me. I saw with my own eyes what you did here."

"I have never been here before Eesa," She said lowering her weapon and retracting the Sraha blades.

"It had to be you…" He insisted, none of the conviction lost from his voice.

Courtney tilted her head and was about to inquire what he meant when two large bodies streaked past her to tackle the older Soua. She heard the bodies land with a loud thump and she recognized Gui'Yata and Quona pinning her would be assailant to the deck. The tackle had knocked the older Soua unconscious and when they were sure that he would no longer pose a threat they stood up. Courtney jumped despite herself as two more Soua bodies stepped up next to her, she glanced quickly up sighing as she saw Nobaya and Tomakaya standing next to her. Beyond them Popau stepped into the light looking down on the scarred and unconscious old Soua at their feet.

"Bahlana," He said quietly moving over to the older Soua's side.

Quona straightened at the sound of that name, "Bahlana?" Lyonas repeated quietly looking down on a face that he had not seen in nearly three hundred fifty years


	6. Revelations

OK, I apologize for the delay in the posting of this chapter, every now and again I hit a lull. In this case I was trying to do too much at the same time, (Three different stories at the same time), and I over taxed myself. Now one of the projects is out of the way, the edit of my original story is on hold, which leaves me free to work on this one.

Chapter Six: Revelations

Quona Lyonas sat with eyes closed and cross-legged, seemingly relaxed, on the pile of ferns on a hill above the Haven's gate. A haven it was no longer, it was a tomb. He opened his eyes and looked over seeing the bright colors of the fire dancing from between the great stones that had been erected, singeing and curling the vines that had provided a curtain across it. It had been the only way to clear the caves, there were so many dead within that moving them to another site was impractical. Lyonas had ordered the torching, giving the rites of the dead just as the flame was lit consuming the devastation within.

There had only been two survivors of the massacre, Bahlana, and an unnamed Saru, one even Popau didn't know, who teetered on the edge of oblivion. Raha was not taking the low success rate very well, even though she tried to hide her disappointment and frustration at the situation she was faced with. Poorly so Lyonas thought, she was still such a Human in that respect. Quona closed his eyes and nodded slowly, she was a good Soyasa, and her empathy with her patients made her so, but it was also her weakness. The Soua understood death, they were death, and they dealt with death well. Raha on the other hand was afraid of death, as most humans were, though she would never admit it even to herself. She fought it at every turn, and she continued to try when the rest knew it was beyond hope. But those that knew her had come to accept that as part of her unique, and some would say, genuinely Clusu way of thinking.

Across from him lay the still unconscious Bahlana, bedded on a pile of soft fungus that was giving off a pleasant smell. Lyonas' eyes moved slowly back to the Soua studying his misshapen face seeing the Saru that he had known so shortly when he was still in the crèche. He had been about a rotation old when Bahlana had come into the world, already learned in the traditions of the crèche regarding those deemed unworthy of training. Something had gone terribly wrong in Bahlana's development leaving him terribly deformed. Most of the right side of his body had been a mass of leathery misshapen skin tissue. His right arm was stunted with a stubby four-fingered hand that showed no sign productive movement. Lyonas had known about the high standards placed on the physical attributes of any given Hunter, but he had never known any that had been subjected to Grapada in his rotation of life. He remembered still following so many long rotations, looking down at the small stunted body, squirming valiantly in his small soyan, unable to reconcile the vitality he saw there with the scars that doomed him to die. He remembered feeling…sorry as a Saru does sometimes that the small life before him would be no more after that day.

Bahlana had been slated for Grapada the day after his birth, and Lyonas had always thought that the Grapada had taken place. The next day Bahlana was gone, and his Souata said no more about it. Never had it occurred to him that Bahlana would escape the fate that was set for him. But here was Bahlana some three hundred fifty rotations later still alive, and looking very much like he remembered him. What had happened?

The answer was of course very obvious; he had been taken by a Rogue infiltrator and brought here. And here it seems that he survived, and not just survived, he had thrived. Glancing down he looked over the Bahlana again. The hair on the right side of his face had never reached any real length, standing stiffly to the side of his head almost like the smaller spines that adorned all Soua's heads. It showed vividly the twisted mass of skin on the side of his head and outlined his bony jaw. His mandibles on that side of his face were absent and the tusks that should have adorned them instead protruded out at odd angles. They looked as if they had pierced the skin, the upper one jutting out and down at an angle, the lower one came nearly straight out from his face. The stiff mass of skin limited the movement of his inner mouth on that side stretched tightly from top to bottom. The left side of his face was untouched, and correctly formed, with gracefully curving tusks from his mandibles and his inner jaw was correct in proportion. One eye was slightly lower than the other but of the correct size.

Beyond that he saw the strength in the old Soua's frame the musculature that had formed where scarring did not touch his body. His legs were sturdy and well proportioned, heavily muscled. That was telling of how he had compensated for his upper body strength with the added force of his legs to aid his fighting and hunting. He saw again the strength and vitality that he had witnessed at Bahlana's introduction to this world.

Lyonas looked then at the weapon that now lay next to his left thigh, a blade nearly three feet long, wickedly jagged edges glinted in the half-light around them, it was fixed to a sturdy gauntlet of metal and padded with soft banyata. He then glanced up at the stunted arm, seeing now the shrunken look of the forearm where it was worn knowing that Bahlana had never gone without the device, it had become an extension of his personality as much as it was for his arm. The stunted arm was wiry with muscles, and it was obvious that had he gotten a good swipe at Raha he would have done her in.

He sighed heavily looking away into the forest again. He had questions for the old Soua, and not all of them had to do with the raid on the Rogue encampment. Raha had brought to his attention the disparity in ages of the Rogues still in the encampment, how there were few young hunters in the Rogues pack, just Saru and aged Sougra or Souata, and that was heavy on his mind as well. Had they gone? If so where? To pursue the culprits of this crime? So many questions and no one person to ask them of, until Bahlana woke. 

As if reading his thoughts the Soua before him stirred, Lyonas' hand went swiftly to his sheathed sword, jumping up and laying the bared blade firmly against Bahlana's neck, preventing him from the attack he saw in the old Soua's body language. "Hold, old one," Lyonas said in a stern commanding voice. Bahlana stared back at him with angry eyes both his left and his stunted right hands flat against the ground in his attempt to push upright, halted by the razor sharp sword at the base of his skull.

"You are one of them," He growled his clear eyes squinting a little, "You would disgrace me now, killing me while I am prone? Why then wait until I wake, Sasiyi? Dishonor knows no shades of color! You will get no favors in the next hunt because of any mercy to me!" His voice was deep and resonant, rich with his fury, though his words were of a dialect he had not heard before. He was clearly understandable, but he carried an accent that must reflect his life amongst the rogues, or perhaps it was the scarring on his face that made his pronunciation odd.

"Of the party that lay your lives to waste I am not, Bahlana," Lyonas said softly, slowly releasing his pressure against Bahlana's neck. He sat back on his haunches, watching Bahlana closely as he moved to a sitting position. Bahlana looked down as he raised his stunted hand before his eyes, and Lyonas shifted placing one clawed foot firmly laid on the gauntlet that Bahlana was now eyeing. 

Surely the Soua did not remember him, Saru were aware of their surroundings early in life, but not clearly in their first hours. Still Lyonas said, "I am Lyonas," He said treating the old Soua as an equal. Bahlana regarded him solemnly a moment, the suspicion in his eyes not fading, and no recognition reflected in that guarded expression, "I am Quona Lyonas of the Taya Quarta," He said instead using his longer held title as head of the ships Eesa."

Bahlana's head inclined slightly and there was recognition in his distorted face, "Of you I have heard many stories, 'Quona'," He answered him derisively, "You and your group, accepted, when the rest of the rogues suffer the indignities of the populace."

"We are not rogues!" Quona cried indignantly the sword in his hand coming up threateningly at the sound.

Bahlana snorted shortly not scared in the least at Lyonas' implied threat, "Sai flaunted the law, is that not what makes a Sougra rogue? Rogues do not conform to the societal norm physically, mentally, or politically. He struck out on his own when the Code did not suit him, when those 'Eesa's' became uncomfortable with his Clusu's presence and bonded him to her to stop his line.

"Sora, was another such…" he looked away but only for a moment, "His wounding made him an outcast in his own society, his altered mental state only made that matter worse. He should have joined us…but so twisted was he around the 'Code' That he wanted to rejoin the Soua that had so mistreated him in the first place."

"Or even you, Lyonas, most of all you…A 'Traditionalist' who tracked his offspring, for selfish reasons…You who took a ship, a TAYA ship, and defected with it to Taysa? You killed many Huada on your journey to that hidden city, you were a wanted Soua. How can you say that Taysa Taru are not Rogues? 

Lyonas stared long and hard at Bahlana, a Soua for all his "outcast" status seemed to be extremely well informed about the ways of the Traditional Soua Society and its inner demons. Another clue perhaps? Before he could inquire the old Soua went on again. 

"We did long ago what you did ten rotations past, yet the Ot Eesan rewarded you and yours with equal status amongst the tribes," Bahlana quipped angrily, "The very thing that has brought this…city…nothing but misery. We are hunted down every day for being what we are…" He looked down at his clubbed hand again then raised it before Lyonas' eyes. "Physically imperfect, mentally unstable or politically aberrant to the hypocritical Eesa's that govern this planet, that control the hunt and make policy with our very lives as they see fit."

Lyonas looked away from the old Soua a moment, knowing that he had no response for the old warrior. When he looked back up again he said sternly, trying to change the course of the conversation back to something that was useful, "What happened here Bahlana?"

Quona glanced over as Raha topped the hill, stopping a respectful distance from the two old Soua, bowing low. She signed at him without looking his direction. It was their silent language, one that was only known to the Eesa's at Taysa. Quona nodded motioning her to approach and be seated. He did not miss the angry glare that Bahlana regarded Raha with. Quona returned his attention to the old Soua.

Slowly Bahlana returned his gaze to Lyonas saying, "I think that you know what happened here!" He growled in a tone that was accusing them. He nodded toward Raha, "You are responsible for this massacre…you have brought death to us."

"What do you mean, Bahlana?" Quona said softly, "We have only just arrived here my friend."

"You try and cover your tracks, Sasiyi, by assuming the role of Yanah, the saviors. The clusu in your presence negates your good will! She directed the assault against us." He said vehemently pointing a clawed finger at Raha who was staring at him in horror for such a suggestion.

Quona Lyonas shook his head looking at the ground, "No," He said adamantly, "We have suffered similar losses, old one. Taysa was attacked the day before we returned from other hunts, Taysa has been laid waste. Donona has suffered as well. It surprises me that with all that you know, that these bits of news have escaped you."

Bahlana glared at him angrily but Quona continued, not losing in his mind the suggestion that a Clusu was responsible for coordinating the attacks. Doubt crept into his mind. The only other Human on Soona was the male Gerard… Could he have played a role in the destruction that they were now suffering? He shook his head minutely, that could not be the case, there was no way for him to be involved with this. Then who could it be? "We have searched for those responsible, yet we have come no closer to finding them. 

"Donona has assumed that the Rogues are to blame for the attacks, we could not convince them otherwise. They are surely on their way to finish what the others started here."

"They will find nothing here," Bahlana said in defeat, seeing the conflagration from the Haven and understanding what had been wrought inside their home.

"Tell me what you can about the attack," Quona asked anxiously.

Bahlana shook his head in the negative, "They were Soua by the look of them, but they fought wrong, very wrong to be of us. No Soua has ever fought the way that these did. Who they were I could not tell you, except to say that they are not from any tribe that I have met or heard of. In fact they seemed to be from all tribes, the attackers possessed many different stylings. And as I have already said…" He paused a moment his eyes narrowing as he looked at Lyonas, "There was a clusu with them."

Lyonas straightened sharply, "You mean there was a pet with them, such as some of the Sougra bring back from hunts?"

Bahlana shook his head negatively growling, "No, fool, a human Clusu, no pet was this creature. It was helping the attackers, much like yours does for you. I will not degrade our species by saying it led the group, it coordinated their attack, and it used techniques that foiled our defenses. I will believe you if you say that this," He pointed to Raha again, "Clusu is not responsible, but I am not mistaken about the human's presence in the group. This one was dressed much the same as the one you named Raha. It knows no Soua styling, no Code existed in its group. And that was the reason that they were so successful in their attack. 

"And there was something else," Bahlana added looking thoughtfully at the ground, "Behind the chants…there was…language, different from Sou, but almost recognizable, like something from long into our history, like instinctive memory."

Quona's brow furrowed.

Off to the left of where the three of them sat there was a loud explosion followed by the sound of his own group yelling instructions. Popau ran to them signing his respect and then blurting, "There are Soua attacking from the forest, about fifty, by reckoning, Quona."

"Are they Donona's?" Quona asked fearing for his group should they be found lingering here.

Popau shook his head, "No, they are Rogues."

Quona stood as did Bahlana and Raha looking out into the dim forest. Tall proud hunters approached slowly from between the tree surrounding the hill. Here there were none of the infirmities usually associated with a Rogue. Each was strong and of middle age, the missing generation that Raha had mentioned to him. Each hunter carried stringers of meat, neatly dried into strips. Quona looked back to Bahlana who was standing proudly as he looked at his warriors.

They stood in an encompassing circle, weapons at the ready, mostly Raspa's and Disa, but some carried yoysa's and others had missile launchers. All looked angry and worried about the still raging fire coming from between the gates of the Haven.

Lyonas looked down at his small group standing defensively at the bottom of the hill intent on protecting their Quona, "Stand down!" He ordered to his own warriors in a booming voice then he turned again to Bahlana, "I do not wish to inflict any more losses than you have already suffered here Bahlana. Ask your Sougra to stand down."

"You possess such confidence, Lyonas, to think that your warriors, as few as they are can outmatch my own."

"Yes you do possess the greater numbers here," Lyonas agreed, "But why do you wish to continue to fight? Donona will be here soon, and fighting us will only delay you when you could be safely away to another place. We have proven that we did not cause your misery here, is that not enough for you?"

Bahlana looked stubbornly on, reluctant to let go of thoughts of revenge, finally he nodded turning to face the warriors returned from their hunt again, "Wanduma, chana rescara." He ordered loudly.

The warriors jumped back a little as if they had been punched, their eyes drifted to others in their own party not believing what they had just heard, "Chana rescara!" he repeated the anger at delay clearly in his voice.

Slowly the weapons lowered, but none moved from their spots.

"What has happened here, Eesa?" One Sougra asked. He was slightly older than those with him, a strong and wise looking Sougra. His markings and confirmation told Lyonas that this was one of Bahlana's offspring.

Bahlana stooped to pick up the gauntlet that Lyonas had been guarding and donned the weapon. He looked at Lyonas again before turning away and moving down the hill toward the younger Soua who had spoken. He stopped next to the younger Sougra laying his good hand on his shoulder, "I will tell you…but not at this moment, Bahtin, for now we must go, a second danger is nearly upon us. We should be away from here before it arrives."

"But who are these Soua?" Bahtin asked angrily, "They are Traditionalists, have they come here to kill us?"

Bahlana looked back again, "They came to warn us of our enemies arrival."

"The Haven? Why does it burn?" Bahtin asked obviously confused.

"Later Bahtin…we must go, NOW!" He struck the Sougra sharply on the shoulder with the flat of the blade on his right wrist. Cowed, the Sougra turned and began loping into the forest. Bahlana ordered one of the Sougra to gather up the Saru who was of their clan and then repeated his original orders louder and the rest moved more quickly into the forest. Soon they were only faint heat signatures lost amongst those of the animals.

"A human?" Courtney said to Quona trepidatiously, "But how? And what group of Soua is he or she 'coordinating'?"

"That is something that we are going to have to find out."


	7. The Key

Chapter Seven: The Key

Temasu ducked as another bolt seared a tree near him. Explosions behind him were deafening as he ran from the landing at Hosmara. Behind him there was utter devastation now. Most of his group was dead, Sougra and Saru alike. Vaguely he wondered how many others made it out.

He had only been in preparation for the hunt about two moon cycles, readying for their trip out-system to the proving grounds. They were due to leave this very day and he, like all the other Saru in his group, was excited about the trip. Even the warnings from their instructors did not dim their enthusiasm to prove themselves against the dreaded Yhi. They had been spinning tales about their up and coming greatness in the hunt, laughing and jostling and wrestling to spend some of their energy. Their group was especially well balanced and while a pecking order had been established even among the Saru everyone got along in a fairly equitable manner.

They had heard rumors of attacks on the cities surrounding Hosmara, of the devastation that had followed each, but they had discounted it…that would never happen here. It was the folly of youth to believe that they were invincible. They were ill prepared when "never" happened so suddenly.

The attack had come without warning, from out of the forest and the sheer numbers of the attackers immediately overwhelmed the light guard that had been placed around the landing. Temasu had fought as well as he knew how with his own rudimentary skills. He had found quickly that it was nothing but inadequate. He remembered vividly the searing pain across his back from the blade of the enemy. It was a grazing blow, not nearly enough to kill him, but it was enough to send him into darkness for a time. That same pain woke him later when most of the damage had already been done. Slowly he opened his eyes, seeing around him the utter devastation that had been accomplished by the enemy. The Taya ship, his pack ship was engulfed in flames and he saw many bodies dancing, silhouetted by the flames, in triumph. Several other of the ships at the landing were reduced to masses of twisted metal. All around him were bodies, many Soua that he had been selected to train with lay staring in death all around his prone form. Amidst them were the occasional Yimhi body slaughtered as they had tried to escape. Then he saw the enemy and he watched with a sickening feeling in his gut as the attackers gathered up their own dead, weapons and any other evidence that they had been there. Rage welled up in him at the sheer mindlessness of the attack, at the loss of his hunting partners, and of his own loss of time on the pack ship. An honor that he had earned in his own mind. Temasu's eyes narrowed as he beat down that senseless rage, it would do little good for him to rush into attacking these creatures when they outnumbered him so badly.

He continued to watch them work confused by their actions, and for long moments he was still, afraid to move as they continued to clear out their brother attackers. He saw clearly the invaders, each dressed like Sougra ready for the hunt, masks glittering in the light with reflected heat. Their hair swayed as they moved and worked. As he did he noticed the disparities in their actions, in fact the more he watched them the more he decided that they were not Soua at all, but something else entirely. 

Glancing to his left over the body littered ground his eyes locked on evidence to support his observations. As unobtrusively as he could he dragged himself toward it covering it with his own body as the creatures sifted through the dead and dying to claim their own. He did not stop to analyze it as he would have liked, that only risked discovery. Deep down he knew it was of importance and the others must know what they were up against, even if he himself did not quite understand it. He had to get away!

He lay still long moments using only his eyes to see how close any of the enemy was to him. There was none that he could see and he attempted to rise, only to freeze when he heard that clicking sound coming from behind him. He slumped heavily down again, relaxing every muscle as he held his breath and hoped the searcher would just pass him up. He wasn't to be so lucky.

Rough hands grabbed him about the shoulder and waist rolling him onto his back. Temasu reacted immediately, rolling onto his shoulders and kicking out hard with both clawed feet. The creature was caught off guard, expecting only dead and dying bodies to sift through. It landed heavily on its back, crying out in its own odd tongue in surprise and alarm. Temasu was on his feet and running the next instant, hearing the ever increasing noise in the background as the word was passed of his own attempt to escape.

Temasu risked a glance back checking to see how many were following. He was surprised to find himself alone. He slowed to a stop, just for a moment turning to find the conflagration bright even through the boles of the thick trees about him. He decided not to linger, surely there would be trackers to follow him. That thought spurned him into a ground-eating jog tucking his precious evidence under his left arm.

Temasu wandered aimlessly at first pushing through the sparse undergrowth thinking about where to take his information and his evidence. Hosmara was close but he was trepidatious about going there, he knew no one. His story would be discounted as a fantasy from the imagination of a Saru. Some might be sent to investigate, but that would be the extent of it. He needed to talk to someone whom he knew and who knew him.

He refocused his gaze, looking sharply about him for bearings. He began to realize this was a familiar track of forest. Many landmarks were those that he remembered from the previous year, when he and some of the other Saru had come here to practice their skills on the local animals. He looked forward again, his mandibles clicking loudly. Without a thought, his feet had brought him on the path toward his home.

His head snapped back toward the trail that he had come down, as faint clicking reached his sensitive ears. His pursuit had finally found his trail, or had discovered what he now possessed, and were now intent on keeping the secret he was about to expose. He listened a moment longer counting easily the five different voices that were coordinating to find him. He had to call that incessant clicking language, another thing that set them apart from Soua. He was more convinced than ever that they were not rogue Soua as some of the instructors had suggested.

They were closing quickly on his position and he was spurned into a sprint finding the well-worn path that would take him quickest to the protection of Taysa. 

The sentry stood alertly at the rail facing a point in the forest where the suns would come up. Since the devastating attack on Taysa, all the survivors were convinced that a second attack was imminent. Their already vigilant practices were now tripwire tight. He scanned the patches between the trees wondering when the Eesan would be returning. They had been gone nearly a moon cycle now in pursuit of the Rogues. He felt his mandibles twitch, uncertainty filled him at the thought of dealing with that group. Highly unpredictable were the rogues, and almost assuredly they were responsible for the multiple attacks on the surrounding towns and cities. The Soua only saw trouble from dealing with that group.

He shook out those thoughts, the Eesan were cunning, and they would not allow themselves to get into a situation such as that. He focused again on the surrounding forest, looking for anything untoward approaching out of the thick trees. He stiffened as movement caught his eye, a single body running through the forest directly toward his position. It was a Soua sprinting at full speed, it was tall but still slim with youth. Under one arm he held something tightly raising an alarm within the sentry. What was it? It looked cold in his vision, a device, but exactly what he could not determine, the angle at which it was held hid that detail from him. His mind automatically went for the worst possible scenario. Grimly he brought his weapon up targeting the moving body, sure that it was an advance scout from the attackers come to finish what had already been started. He raised his Yoysa aiming at the quickly sprinting figure moving across the forest floor. One shot and the threat would be gone, he would not stand to lose any more of his brethren to such a threat.

"Tuamo sayma!" Came a high thin voice from the forest floor, a scared and desperate voice asking for admittance to the city. The voice was familiar, "Tuamo sayma!" It came again. 

The sentry leaned over the rail looking more closely at the youth that was nearing now the bole of the tree. Movement behind the Saru drew the sentry's eyes away, and he noticed five bodies flitting between the trees closing the gap between their group and the Saru. It was a decoy, he thought acidly, a ploy to get the device the boy held inside the city. The guard remained silent and unmoving, unsure whether to trust his ears, watching to see what would happen if he did nothing. 

"Tuamo sayma! Temasu, guano nanya grazada!" The voice said more frantic than before. The guard squinted again, taking in the boy's details. The boy who claimed to be Temasu was now looking up the bole of the tree at him, then away to the pursuit almost upon him. The guard drew in a sharp breath, it was Temasu, how did he get here? Why was he not on his way out system to attend his Raya? His eyes moved back to the five bodies following the boy. What had happened? There was a sinking feeling in his gut, and suddenly he knew what had happened, there had been an attack at Hosmara field.

The guard's weapon came up again even as he shouted orders to the sentries nearest his own post, "Drangia, cuyat sepsas!" He fired as he clipped out the last syllable catching one loping figure in his midriff to fall heavily amongst the ferns. He heard the report of several of the others firing and watched as two more fell to plasma fire. All fell silent suddenly and the guard scanned the surrounding forest for any sign of movement from the remaining attackers.

When he had assured himself that there were going to be no more action his eyes shifted down to the boy who was now backed against the tree claws out defensively in front of him ready for an attack. He straightened quickly stepping over to the makeshift lift that was nearest his own position. "Nuta graul." He cursed himself for his doubt as he stepped onto the lift and started down the long drop to the forest floor. He had almost cost Nobaya's son his life, and that would have been something that the Eesa would not forgive. He swallowed hard as he thought of having to commit Grapada for such a grave mistake.

As the lift came into the boy's view he jumped literally sideways, then settling he looked strangely at the contraption. He asked no questions however as it settled next to him, immediately stepping onto the platform, which began to rise.

"Why did you not help sooner, Mlanka?" The boy growled forgetting his place in his fear. He could still her his heart beating loudly in his own ears. His back was burning fire where he had been cut, both from the wound itself and the exertion and strain of his nonstop run through the forest.

"Watch your tongue, boy!" Mlanka snapped watching the boy cower, "You are not your father and his status does not excuse your manners!"

"Forgive me," Temasu muttered, looking away in submission.

Mlanka cuffed the boy hard across the back, watching him wince away from the blow. Only then did he realize that the boy was wounded, "We must get you to the Gather and get that wound tended," Mlanka said in a softer tone. They reached the lower level of the city and Mlanka stepped off immediately walking with quick steps toward the Gather. Temasu stepped off and stopped, his mandibles hanging open in shock at the appearance of his home. Large areas were bare on the landing, areas he remembered as being occupied with growths of every size. To his left was the place where he remembered the Crèche being. It no longer existed. There were few others about besides the sentries, where there should have been heavy traffic. Many of those he did see, all of whom he knew, were scarred in some way, as if a great battle had happened in his absence from the city.

"Mlanka, what has happened here?" He said softly in perfectly mannered speech. Mlanka turned toward him nearly halfway to the Gather and came back toward the boy. He lay a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"You did not hear of the attack?" Mlanka said incredulously, "The Sasiyi responsible started their series of attacks on this very city. Many were lost and most was destroyed."

"We heard only that several cities had been attacked, that Taysa was one such we were not told," He swallowed, "Father? Mother?"

"They are unharmed. They have business elsewhere and have yet to return," He tilted his head as he stepped into the Gather his eyes on the boy as he stepped through the door into the hall, "Now you must tell me why you are here and not in Hosmara."

Temasu's upper mandibles clicked together incessantly with his nervousness, "The landing at Hosmara was attacked as well, just several hours ago. They were great in number and highly organized, and we were only three Sougra, one Eesa, and twenty Saru. We were no match for them. Everything was destroyed.

He looked down again, "I was injured," He said as if disgraced by his situation, "When I awoke they were removing the members of their party, they were eradicating all evidence of their presence. And that is when I found…" He brought out what he had so meticulously guarded in his flight, "This."

The boy handed over what he had carried away from Hosmara. Mlanka squinted as he looked at it. It was a mask, such as any one that Sougra use on the hunt. It was quite plain, the basic metal with no real decoration of any kind save for small neat marking etched near outer corner of the left eye. Mlanka brought the helm closer to his eyes. He recognized those neat symbols of blessing of Yanah for the hunt.

Mlanka looked up at the boy, "This is Himaka's mask, he was killed in the attack on Donona's landing. You found this at Hosmara?"

The boy nodded looking as if he was going to be sick. Mlanka pulled his mandibles in close to his inner jaw in consternation blinking heavily. What would it be doing at Hosmara? He slowly flipped over the mask and dropped it at the sight that greeted his eyes. He looked back up at the Saru the horror evident on his face.

Temasu stood before the Eesan, trying vainly to stop the shaking in his slight body. He had been given the decided honor of presenting his evidence to them. It was an honor that was well above his station and he was more than a little trepidatious. He fretted that he would commit a social faux pas such as the one he had committed with Mlanka. The presence of his parents only made the matter worse. He had always been expected to excel and there was a certain part of him that felt that he had failed by surviving the attack, when he should have died defending the field.

Temasu started when the Quona addressed him, leaning forward with a penetrating gaze, "What have you found Temasu?"

Blood rushed in Temasu's ears as he slowly approached the raised platform on which the Eesan sat. He knelt before the old Soua and with downturned eyes he raised the mask above his head. He felt the weight of it lifted from his fingers and slowly backed away again. He waited silently, his eyes still down. He heard the soft whisper of the Soua locks fall from their hiding where he had tucked them inside the mask, it was followed by a collective gasp from the Eesa's as the implication became clear.

That was the secret of the mask, what was pasted to the inside of it. Never had Temasu heard of anything like it before. Whoever was responsible was masquerading as Soua, for what purpose he was yet unsure. The mask had been lined with the skin of its owner. The tentacle like hair skinned directly from the skull and cured. The eyeholes had been sewn shut and the mandibles had been left intact. It had been a horrid discovery.

"Temasu," came a voice shaking with rage. Slowly he returned his gaze to the group, seeing Raha on her feet holding the mask slightly away from her body, "Where did you say you found this?"

The Eesan looked from Raha and now back to him as he returned to his feet. He had to use all the control he knew to keep the shaking from becoming visible. He began again his tale of the attack at first with a faltering voice, but more confidently as he realized that the Eesan was taking his words with grave interest. When he finished as heavy silence fell over the room again. Temasu waited tensely silent, his eyes searching the smooth bark at his feet, for a response from them. He could not help but to steal glances at the members of the Eesan his curiosity greater than his caution in this matter.

The Eesan looked at each other grimly signaling in fluid motion to one another. He knew that they were conversing but was unable to decipher what was being said. His parents had never entrusted him with the Eesan's secret language.

After dragging minutes Quona finally spoke again, "What else can you tell us about these attackers Saru Temasu? You say that they did not act like Soua?"

Temasu looked up again into that grizzled face, "No Quona, they did not," he said strongly, "They moved and acted wrong. There seemed to be no social order in them, they fought and jostled despite some being obviously older or more experienced."

He watched as the Eesan regarded each other solemnly, "Did you get a good look at any of the attackers? "

"Outwardly they looked like Soua, dressed for the hunt," He turned his head slightly to the side as he visualized what he had seen, "Their skin was pale, muted, colder than our own," He paused again his eyes narrowing as the impressions sharpened in his mind, "They walked hunched over and leaning forward, walking on their toes almost constantly. They would occasionally settle back on their feet when they would speak to each other. Their voices…were not Soua voices. They spoke in clicks that were varying, but not as rich as our own, they were soft more felt than heard."

"What about their faces?" The Quona pressed.

Temasu's gaze moved to the grizzled face again, I saw no faces, Quona," Temasu said confidently, "I only saw many versions such as the mask you now possess."

Temasu thought he saw the old Soua shudder as that was said. Slowly Quona looked back down at the death mask in his hand. The old Soua looked back on the Saru sharply, "Your clue to this puzzle is appreciated, Saru Temasu, and your forethought in brining it to our attention reflects well on your training. You may leave."

Temasu bowed grandly signaling his respect for the group before backing out of the Eesan.

Quona looked gravely at the others of the Eesan after we left, "I think I may know from where our problems originate."


	8. The Next Step

Chapter Seven: The Next Step

All eyes were now glued to the grizzled old Soua at such a cryptic statement.

"Where?" Tomakaya asked bluntly.

Lyonas looked back to the mask in his hand, the key to the puzzle that they had been presented. He handed it to Tomakaya saying, "Tell me what this says to you? What clues can we gather from this mask?"

She looked it over very carefully inside and out as the others gathered close to watch, "It says that they are not Soua," She started. Quona only nodded at her, but did not seem satisfied by her answer. She looked at it again.

Raha broke in with, "There are no eyes, whoever did this sewed the lids shut. They must not see, not in the conventional sense."

"Good, anything else?"

Tomakaya spoke again, "They must be similar in build and markings if all that they require is the helm, some armor, and a skin of hair to pass as Soua."

"They would need little else in the heat of a battle, most would not look closely once the assumption had been made about their identity," Gui'Yata added.

"True, but in all attacks there had been survivors, and all said that even in the aftermath that they looked like Soua, there must be more than just a passing similarity." Nobaya added.

"And what of the disparity in their actions," Raha jumped in again, "Leaned forward as if crippled, walking on their toes? It sounds familiar…but where have I heard that description before and what creature was it regarding?" She ended musing to herself.

The Gather fell silent as all turned their thought inward. Suddenly Nobaya said, "They were Noa."

The Quona straightened to his full height, smiling and nodding at the quick processing of the clue, "Yes the Noa."

"But the chanting?" Tomakaya argued, "You forget that I was present for the attack on this city. The attackers celebrated their victory singing hunting chants of success. The Noa do not speak Sou, they are incapable of that kind of enunciation."

"_Did_ they speak?" The Quona presented in a steady questioning tone.

"Y…" Tomakaya started to say but stopped tilting her head to one side thinking harder about her own encounters with the attackers.

Gui'Yata's face widened, "Perhaps not…not if they have the helms."

Quona nodded at his grandson, "There may be another reason for them to use the masks than to just hide their identity from their victims."

"The Recorders!" Tomakaya blurted as the answer suddenly presented itself to her. Her tone said that she was disappointed that she had not realized it before, "They could record the chants and play them back as if they were speaking."

"But how did they get enough to supply the numbers of attackers that we and the rest of the cities have seen?" Nobaya said softly glancing at his bondsman.

"There have been hundreds of disappearances in the past ten rotation, from dozens of cities. People trying to reach Taysa, hunters traveling from remote cities to major space ports for duty aboard pack ships, and those travelling for conclave in Donona. In all cases the warriors would be carrying everything that the Noa would need to masquerade as our kind."

"That would also explain a lot about the odd culling of trophies from the different cities," Raha added, "It could be that they took only from those that had their helms with them or that were wearing them during the battles. Something that they could use to restock their supply." She grimaced at that thought.

"But then the question becomes why? Why have they chosen now to attack us?" Gui'Yata stated in confusion, "They normally only bother us in the rotations plagued by drought, when the food on the forest floor is scarce. It is the only time that they will even move into the trees. There has been no such problem this season, the clouds were heavy with rain this summer."

"That is a question that still perplexes me," Quona said disconcertingly, "And a question I do not have the answers for. Nor do I have an answer for the organization that I have seen and heard from them this time. Their attacks are usually disjointed, hit and run, enough to harass us and no more. There is evidence that some one or some thing has coordinated this Species War that we are witness to."

"The Rogues say it was a human," Raha put in shivering with a chill that had nothing to do with temperature.

Quona snorted derisively, "Forgive me Raha, but that I cannot believe. Adaptable your race may be but to learn the Noa language would be near impossible, we have not managed it and we have been exposed to their society a lot longer than you," He looked down, "Even if this 'human' had managed it, the Noa would sooner eat him than make him their leader."

"Is there another human on planet, Quona? Did Bahlana have the right of it?" Raha added, concerned for her own well being should this human make trouble with the tribes.

The Quona was shaking his head in the negative before she had even finished her question, "That would have been a bit of news that would have spread rapidly through the planet. We would have heard long before now of its…his existence. You are the only Clusu from off planet."

Gui'Yata suddenly looked ill standing next to his Grandfather, "What of…" 

The Quona seemed to read his thought, and most probably did, "The others brought when Raha was trapped? No, those died on the killing fields beyond Donona's spaceport. None would have escaped there."

Raha's eyes widened as she remembered the soldiers that had been trapped aboard the ship. They had been released just prior to her departure from the ship some eleven rotations or so ago now. They had been killed, or so she had been told. She had believed it, she had seen the killing fields of which the Quona spoke, guided through its perils as part of her training with Gui'Yata. They were full of creatures that used the tall purple grasses, the screening they provided to good use in snagging animals, and anything else not trained to avoid them, in their traps. 

Her gut sank at the thought that there was one of those soldiers running loose on the planet, possibly instigating the Noa into a killing frenzy.

"Can we be so sure?" Nobaya said in a tone of concern.

The Quona shook his head, "In these times there is nothing for certain."

He twitched as he slept, images haunting him, life here was not always easy, that had been true from the start. In his dreams the first days reflected a thousand fold…

__

He wandered finally from the field of death, it was slow progress when he had to check every step for hidden dangers. Those same dangers had taken all the others that had been with him. He had been the only one to survive. Why? Why had they done this? He had only been doing his job and the creatures had subjected him to a journey across space only to release him to die. He felt his jaw clench, not this one, he was going to survive, and if given the opportunity he would pay those bastards back.

When he had reached the forest he thought that he would be safe. He found himself exhausted, mentally overtaxed and he crawled the last few feet to the base of an enormous tree. They were bigger than anything he had ever seen before, anything. They rivaled some of the buildings that he had thought were impressive. He fell asleep shortly with that thought rattling around inside his head, consciously wishing that he were suffering from a nightmare. That he would wake and find himself back in familiar surroundings.

When he awoke it was to the sound of their incessant clicking, he started as he found himself surrounded by muscular humanoid creatures. Several were very near his semi-prone form, seeming to look him over though their faces had no discernable eyes. Where the eyes should have been was a sunken area just below the forward portion of the ridges above the snout. It was smooth and featureless there, as if they had never possessed them in the first place. Each had a snout covered tightly with pale nearly white skin, sharp teeth were permanently bared, one blending into the next seemingly a serrated ridge rather than individual teeth. The tops of their heads were flat, cleft in the middle, and bared of anything that resembled hair. Instead they were ringed with two rows of corrugated ridges. They were striped and dotted with pale green and orange markings. 

They walked hunched over and slightly forward due to the extra joint just above their ankle area. Hands and feet were possessed of three toes, each ending in wickedly curving claws, so much that they looked like cat's claws. They wore nothing but simple skins around their middle. He saw no weapons on them, none.

The two near him stood up slightly straighter, sitting back on that extra joint in their leg possibly discussing what he might be. The argument became quite heated, from what he could tell, the clicking coming from them almost a whine like a Cicada. The larger one suddenly jumped at the smaller and thinner, and seemingly older of them. The creature pushed the other to the ground straddling him and viciously slashing at him with those catlike claws. 

When the older creature had stopped moving the victor turned back to him. The others behind him cowered back from the bulky creature. It turned its head to one side leaning closer to him. He was too petrified to move as that skull like face leaned in close to his face.

With quick movement the creature lifted an arm from where he had braced himself in the dirt, and bit into it. He cried out as the red hot pain took over his body, and it was quickly followed by numbness moving up his arm until the pain was a memory. He watched distantly as chunks of flesh from his arm disappeared into the creature at an alarmingly fast rate. The thing had started at his fingertips and was already up to his elbow. It was eating everything, bone, sinew, flesh and skin.

"I'm gonna die," He thought suddenly, "I am going to be witness to my own consumption!"

Suddenly the creature fell away from him, and it took long moments for him to figure out just why the creature now lay unmoving on the forest floor at his side. He blinked stupidly as the older creature leaned back into his view. The creature was bloody with long raking wounds across his chest and face, but it seemed to be in no pain. It reached into a pouch at Its belt and pulled out a bottle of a finely chopped plant. It quickly opened it spreading some in its hand and then on the glaringly obvious wound at his elbow. As he watched the creature work he noticed that the flesh around where the creature had stopped chewing on him was becoming soft. It was now less like flesh and more like jelly, like the consistency of flesh he had seen on his best friend, slowly liquefying in the clutches of that anemone creature back in the field. The creature worked quickly and the effects that he noticed ceased where he had applied the herb.

The creature started clicking in rapidly ascending and descending notes at him. And still in shock he stared dumbly at the creature. It continued repeating over and over again the same series of clicks. Suddenly he heard in his head, just as if the thing had suddenly learned his language, "You are the one we have waited for."

He woke with a start shaking those images from his head. That was so long ago now, he hardly remembered the events upon waking. This had always seemed to be his home, the creatures that had injured and then saved him were all that he had. He raised the stump of his arm before his eyes, seeing again the effects of Cckeick's saliva and chewing teeth. It was a permanent reminder of his introduction to this world. Kaiketa had killed Cckeick, hitting the younger and more rash Clan member in the back of the head where they were vulnerable. He remembered being just conscious enough to watch as they ate Cckeick. That was their way, they wasted nothing, the Clan recycled everything about their life, unlike the wasteful Brethren.

He began to fume yet again at the thought of those creatures, they were the reason he was even here. It was all about revenge for him, despite Kaiketa's belief that he was their Messiah, here to return the planet to the rightful owners. He could only think that he was going to pay them back tenfold for taking from his home, only to make him witness to the destruction of his whole unit. He would make these murderous Brethren sorry for messing with him, his unit, and above all his race.

He stood stretching his road weary muscles, they had been on the move non stop for nearly three moon cycles now and though he was road hardened it was beginning to tax him. He looked around him watching the Clan move about, preparing for the next strike. They were returning to the city where this campaign had begun, knowing that if they attacked too many cities they would give away their secret. The targets that they had hit should be enough to start the different clan factions into a war. It was a ploy to reinforce the idea that the mainstream was beleaguering Taysa, as its citizens called it, the mainstream was to think that the citizens of Taysa were to blame, and the Renegades were to think the whole world was after them. It was a good plan, and he had already seen the tension come near boiling in several of the cities that they had been spying on to judge reaction.

The Brethren were not so different from Humans after all, it seemed that the opinion of the general populace was just as easy to sway as humans. The campaign was as effective as anything that psyops had done back on Earth. Perhaps the ruling bodies were not yet convinced, he had heard of no declarations of intent against any of the other factions, but it was only a matter of time.

Kleeck approached him "seeing" that he was up, "Skiateta, all is in readiness. We will reach the staging point by sunset," He only nodded at the creature. Skiateta, he snorted, the chosen one, the savior. That was about what the word translated to. He had shown them the way to rid themselves of the blasphemous shadows of their own existence. They were pleased with what he had been able to do for them, they had rewarded him handsomely for his help and expertise. He snorted again, thinking bitterly how that would never return his arm.

Another approached him in a position of submission hunched over until his chest and knees met. The creature did not look at him. Over his body were burn marks as if from plasma fire and the attitude of the warrior told that the creature possessed news that he thought was sure would anger him, "Skiateta…" It swallowed before continuing, "There is a problem…"

He stared at the base of the creatures bare skull, "Speak!" he ordered harshly.

"A young Brethren escaped from the field where the 'ships' land."

He blinked relaxing a little, wondering why that would upset the young Clan so much, "We have had many survivors, one more is nothing to our plan."

"It is not that he escaped Skiateta, cull inventory has come up short. It has been determined that the boy carried away an item. He carried away a Brethren mask."

His eyes widened in anger, "What!" He bellowed, feeling the activity around him stop. He didn't bother to glance around him, that was part of what had kept him alive, he showed himself to be supremely confident.

"I am sorry Skiateta. We tried to retrieve the boy and the mask but he made it to the outcasts city and was helped by them. We lost three in the attempt."

"I don't care about your losses, Gidkita, you were instructed to obscure any evidence that might reveal the true nature of our plan! Now the Brethren will expose us. They will unite against us and we will fail! That will be your responsibility!" He growled, then looked up at those around him who turned away as soon as his gaze fell on them. For creatures that were blind in the traditional sense these creatures possessed a spectacular ability to "see" with their echolocation skills. He looked back down at the still prostrate creature, "How long ago did this happen?"

"Just two days now, Skiateta."

He pursed his lips thinking hard, "Tell the Zankiki that we will attack as soon as night falls. They will ensure the entire population is destroyed this time, NO survivors. This will be done before they can tell anyone of their discovery."


	9. Captured

Chapter Eight: Captured!

The Eesan left the Doana with much to think about, much had been revealed to them with the discovery of the mask lined with the face of a Soua they knew. But at the same time just as many questions had been added to their list and none were easily answered.

Courtney's head swirled with the thought of a human soldier organizing, and (She didn't care what the others said) leading the Noa in this war between the two highest evolved species of this planet. The responsibility for his presence here, if Bahlana's words could be trusted, would fall squarely on her own shoulders. 

She was keenly aware of Gui'Yata walking silently next to her as they moved further away from Doana. She did not look up at him though she could feel his eyes on her. If he wanted her attention he would make it known.

"Courtney?" she heard Gui'Yata rumble, as she had expected of him, "You are troubled." He said seeming to read her thoughts.

She looked up into his orange eyes trying to slow her breathing and her heart, "This is my fault, Gui'."

He looked at her sternly, "What brings you to that conclusion, my friend?"

"If this human…this soldier is from the group of prisoners that were brought back, and somehow he had survived the field, and is now responsible for the rise in Noa attacks, for the precise incursions that we have seen, then it is my fault."

"You think this because Quona allowed the ship to stay longer for you to heal?" He asked seeming to follow her train of thought perfectly. It had often made her wonder just how much he could pick up of human brain waves.

Courtney nodded then frowned when he guffawed in mirth, "You think that funny? Me responsible for the worst massacres in Soua history and you think that it is funny?"

He shook his head looking back at her, "To follow that path of logic, Courtney, it would then ultimately be my own fault," Courtney tilted her head still frowning, "After all I did bring you back to the ship in the first place."

She looked away her brow furrowing and unable to find a chink in that logic, "I'm sorry but that does nothing to make me feel better. It remains that there is a human here on the planet, and I'm fairly sure that his motivation behind these attacks is revenge."

Gui'Yata Nodded once, "No doubt, then it remains that we will have to take his influence away from the Noa so that they will cease this destruction."

"You make that sound easy."

"You think that it will not be?"

She looked through the small window in the canopy that showed the darkening sky, "I know it will not be…we would have to find him first, find where the Noa that are with him are currently residing. It is a mighty big planet. And even were we to succeed, what is to say that the Noa, now that they have this idea in their head, whatever it may be, will let it go?"

Gui'Yata was about to argue with her futile outlook when the warning siren went off in the city. Both their heads whipped to the origin of the sound moving swiftly toward the perimeter fence. They barely stopped themselves before plummeting over the edge looking down to the forest floor. Courtney drew in a sharp breath seeing the carpet of moving bodies at the base of the tree some beginning to trail up the side of their home. She shivered as the sight reminded her uncomfortably of a swarm of ants. 

The sentries were firing nonstop into the mass of bodies and great numbers fell to be quickly replaced by others in the group. As valiant as the effort was the insurgents were gaining ground on the tree top city.

Without a word Courtney and Gui'Yata ran to their dwelling grabbing up their arsenal of weaponry. Soon they rejoined the effort firing precisely controlled bursts of plasma into the surging crowd below them. There was a sinking feeling in Courtney as she watched the seemingly endless numbers of Noa move up the tree, replacing the fallen nearly as quickly as the defenders could shoot them down. Grimly she noted that the forest floor around the base of their tree was piling quickly with bodies.

A shout came from across the city suddenly cut short as the Soua who had attempted to warn them was cut down. Courtney and Gui'Yata looked in unison over their shoulders seeing a surge of pale bodies moving over the tree boughs into their town. A second wave of attackers flooded over the railing on the northern side of Taysa overwhelming the thin guard of defenders there. The bondsmen quickly joined that group fending off a thick wave of Noa slashing and firing through the bodies all around them.

Courtney lobbed several plasma grenades toward the branch where the attackers were coming through in the hopes of blasting the bridge before more could make it across. At the same time Gui'Yata guarded her firing into the wave of bodies just ahead of their position watching as five went down. Those behind the first of the group fell heavily over the now still bodies of their brethren. Courtney and Gui'Yata both closed the distance and stilled those before they could recover their footing. Further back the Noa adjusted their attack plying around the small pile barricading their advance.

Gui'Yata nodded grimly as he heard the grenades go off somewhere behind the attackers and watched with satisfaction as thirty or more Noa vanished the branch they had been traversing gave way under their feet. The two hunters then moved in back to back working through the Noa still crowding around them.

They were quickly proving why they were such a formidable hunting partners. Courtney was firing into the crowd of Noa, at the same time she was slashing any who came close enough with her sword in one hand and her Sraha on the opposite wrist. She felt the play of Gui'Yata's muscles against her back as he defended his small patch of their city from the attackers. She smiled wickedly realizing that this was the first good battle she had participated in, in a long time, and she was relishing it. 

One Noa came broke through her perimeter of defense. Unable to use her Sraha or sword to advantage, she reacted with practiced ease, retracting the Sraha, stowing her sword and reaching up behind her to grab the rings on the shoulders of Gui'Yata's suit. The whole event took less than one step of the charging Noa. 

At the feel of her weight on his back Gui'Yata immediately leaned forward pulling her weight up. He felt her shift as she kicked out into the attacker sending him back several feet and then pulled herself over into a flip. As soon as her feet landed he whirled around slicing the attacker in half at the waist, as he rushed in to attack again. He heard her grunt as she stabbed an approaching Noa up into the throat nearly decapitating him with the hooked blade.

They continued to pare the group of Noa down, working fluidly in unison and guarding each other's blind spots. Their identities were obvious now to Gui'Yata, as he watched the creatures swarm all around him. The differences were glaring now that they knew the source of the attacks. He was trying to think of a reason that the others had missed the obvious disparity between one race and the other. A thought was that no one had ever expected anything like this of the Noa, the "dumb cousins" of the Soua

Gui'Yata punched out catching one Noa in the chest feeling the bones compress and then crack with the blow, he followed through with his Sraha severing the Noa's head from his body. Another came at him approaching from a blind side and Gui'Yata shifted toward it slashing it across the face with his natural claws. It whirled away from him screeching loudly and Gui'Yata forcefully thumped it in the back of its head to put it out of its misery.

Gui'Yata was panting, his heart racing, his blood was burning with the fight around him. Pale blue milky blood covered his hands, chest, and face. He had not felt this alive in many rotations and he was grinning madly as he fought off the attackers. 

They say "Pride comes before a fall," and Gui'Yata would later wish that he had paid some less costly price. He and Courtney were working together like a well-oiled machine when Gui'Yata caught movement from the corner of his eye. He turned as a Noa leapt at him and as he reached to intercept the Noa another grabbed his left arm dragging him down and away from his position. A sinking feeling possessed him as he became distinctly aware of absence of contact with his bondsman. He could almost feel the growing distance between him and Courtney. Gui'Yata tore his arm from the Noa holding him and reaching up he latched the other about the throat and raised his right fist Sraha extended into the Noa's waist. Using the momentum of the Noa's charge Gui'Yata levered the body up feeling the Sraha slide through its gut and threw it into the crowd of pale bodies around him grunting in satisfaction as it pinned several of its mates. 

Gui'Yata began to move back through the crowd looking for Raha when a searing pain at the joint of his shoulder cut into his concentration. He looked down seeing the Noa latched onto his shoulder with the full set of its serrated teeth ridges. In pain and utter rage Gui'Yata stabbed down over his shoulder roaring loudly as he watched the Sraha blades penetrate the Noa's face just between his snout and the ridge ringing his head. The creature immediately let go of him, but Gui'Yata was not done with it, rotating his body toward the creature he drove the Sraha past the hilt growling in satisfaction as his fist met bone, splintering the Noa's face with a sickening crunch. He held his arm stiffly out holding the body as it slumped in death. He stared at the Noa for a split second before yanking his arm back dropping the dead creature at his feet.

Gui'Yata looked over at his shoulder seeing the profusely bleeding set of wounds there. For a moment it was afire, then a cooling numbness began to spread down the length of his arm and more slowly began to creep up into his neck. He tried to raise his arm but it was already leaden and the feeling was quickly becoming lost as the desiccating venom began to eat his flesh and the neurotoxin began to deaden the nerves. The realization that he had to stop the spread of the venom was foremost in his mind, before it reached his spine and rendered him unable to move even to defend himself.

He was forced to fend of several more Noa single-handed alternately trying to get into the small pouch that was at his waist. He nearly made a fatal error as another Noa came at him and he tried to raise the injured arm to put it down. The limb did not respond, the neurotoxin quickly making his arm useless and Gui'Yata leaned into the creature as he came up with the Sraha blades, catching the Noa in the groin and eviscerating him on the spot. The creature knocked him back several feet with the charge and his heart leapt when he nearly lost the small vial that he had pulled out just prior to the latest attack. Becoming fearful he backed away from the edge of the fight, pulling the stopper from the vial with his teeth and spreading the entire contents on the wound. The numbness stopped spreading and Gui'Yata sighed in relief, but still worried because his arm still did not function. He shook that thought from his head as he realized it was a triviality, he had greater concerns now.

Courtney was by herself to fend off the remaining Noa from the secondary attack. He trusted her skills and knew just how tenacious she could be in a fight, but the numbers were still against her. He pushed his way back through the thinning bodies, fighting off an occasional Noa who still felt they had the upper hand of the battle. When he reached the spot where they had been standing and fighting he was shocked to find that she was no longer there. Callously he stepped atop a pile of dead Noa peering through the jostling and fighting bodies looking fearfully for his bondsman. He stepped back down again unable to locate her and felt something cold and hard under his foot. 

Gui'Yata stepped back and leaned down lifting the object from where it had come to rest. He growled fearfully, it was a hunting mask, but one that was too small to be the possession of any Soua or any Noa impersonating one. It was hers right enough, and he just noticed blood, human blood on the interior of it. He glanced around again the fear in him rising.

"Courtney!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, looking frantically around him hoping beyond hope that she was still with them.

He crouched in the shadows staring at her intently. He was totally fascinated by her, wondering just what her circumstances were, how had she come to be on this crazy world where nothing seemed to make sense? He had not seen another like him in so many years that he thought he would never see a human again.

He remembered standing back much as he was now, to the side out of the way, as the wave moved over the northeastern wall of the city and were immediately engaged by the Brethren guard. He had taken notice of the two of them immediately moving through his group like two fish swimming easily up stream. They had deftly taken out the means by which the Noa had come into their city with three well-placed plasma grenades. He had been impressed by their ability, the way that they tenaciously fought against the superior numbers of Clan that swarmed around them.

One was a typical Brethren, tall, though not nearly so tall as most of the others. He was thick with muscle and he could tell that he was not only good at his job he was enjoying the sport of the kill. She had been a mystery at first, he had thought her some kind of stunted version of a Brethren, or one of their young not even ready for their stiff trials. But she fought like a seasoned warrior, calculating every move that she made killing quickly and without the mistakes that he knew of the young Brethren he had seen in defense of other cities on this world. Its locks were longer than anything he had seen on a Brethren and he had wondered if that was indeed a mark of the aberration she was.

Even as the battle raged nearer his position he was unable to take his eyes off the duo as they fought. When the larger warrior was dragged from its partner he had been sure that the two of them were going to die, for their strength seemed lie in their dependence on each other. He alternately eyed one and then the other seeing how they fared, and wondered silently which would fall first. The tall warrior impaled and then eviscerated his attacker and then smashed the skull on the other, the one that had succeeded in dragging the warrior away from his position. The smaller of the two of them fought valiantly on despite the absence of the other, shifting tactics to account for her solo fight. She was doing very well for about ten minutes before the remaining Noa in the party ganged up on her overpowering even her formidable skills.

He had smiled in seeing her overpowered, knowing deep down that none of the Brethren stood a chance with the Clan on the hunt. During the fight however her mask was knocked free of her face and her true form was revealed to all. He remembered standing up as the Clan subdued her, sweeping in quickly before they killed and then ate her. He had rendered his orders quickly and one larger warrior picked the woman up. Three of the Clan followed him away from the fighting and out of the city. He looked back once noting that the larger one was heading back in the direction he had been separated from her, fighting off oncoming Clan with only half his attention. He ordered haste from his party, wanting to be away before the creature caught up with them.

He focused on her again, seeing the definite Mexican lineage in her face. There was a nasty cut on one side of her face where one of the Clan had struck her and clawed the mask free from her face. Her face was rounded and deeply tanned, several faded scars still shown on her cheek. Her lips were full, seemingly inviting in her unconsciousness. The tip of her upturned ear was missing. Her hair on top was very short and contrasted sharply with the extreme length of hair that now blanketed her prone body. The hair was adorned with beads and bones in neat symmetrical designs all around her head. She was thin and lithe and her legs and arms spoke of exceptional tone and strength.

She was dressed just as Brethren, with all the accouterments, and again he wondered why she was with them, why she fought for a race that hunted humans for sport? It was obvious that she had been with the Brethren for some time; many years had been spent learning what she showed such prowess in on the landing. That did not come in months or a year.

He sidled closer to her, moving several strands of her braided hair further away from the fascinating face, the features smoothed with her unconsciousness. Her body tensed and she drew a deeper breath, he backed away from her again, slinking back into the shadows as she slowly returned to consciousness.

He watched as the woman slowly push herself up shaking her head for a moment and then raised her hand to her forehead. He smiled grimly, surely the Clan had given her a hell of a headache. She raised her head and slowly looked around her blinking and squinting. He shifted a foot and the woman's attention whipped his direction and she drew a quick and surprised breath.


	10. The Face of the Enemy

Chapter Nine: The Face of the Enemy

Courtney stirred slowly from unconsciousness, the touch of something on her face rousing her from an induced sleep. She heard the shuffle of feet moving away from her, as if an intrusion on her nightmare. She smelled dampness in the air, a certain earthy scent that permeated the air. Sounds that were not familiar to her reached her ears dragging her back into the waking world, incessant clicking carried through to her on a muggy wind. Her face wrinkled as the unfamiliar sensations hit her and she cracked her eyes open getting a floor level view of an unfamiliar room. Painfully she pushed herself up from the awkward sprawl of where she had evidentially been dumped. Her head throbbed incessantly and her vision was slightly blurred. Courtney shook her head trying to clear her eyes, only to aggravate her headache. She raised one hand and rested it on her forehead, which was hot and very sweaty. 

She blinked several more times and looked about her trying to get her bearings. She was no longer on the landing of that she was certain. She squinted in the dusky light trying to make out just what it was she was seeing. The place was almost human in style, like the pictures she had seen of natives of the jungles. It was a large undivided hall of some sort. The floor was made of tightly fitting lengths of wood and smooth under her hands, polished by many decades of foot traffic. The walls were made of dank wood planks and tied together with what looked like dried sinew tightly on the bottom half of the wall loosely slatted on top allowing the muggy breeze to sweep the space. Beyond the wall she could see shadows moving along the outside of the dwelling, slightly hunched over and walking in a way no Soua ever did. 

Courtney turned her attention back to the inside of the lodge or hall. The room was not furnished with anything save several crudely woven blankets and some cured animal skins piled near the post. There were no decorations within the room; the place held no sense of style or grace that she knew of the Soua. Down the middle of the room she was in was a large post or tree trunk that obscured the opposite side of the dwelling from her sight. The pillar was dotted with shackles and as she looked she could make out tiny strips of rotted skin dangling from several of them. Courtney grimaced at the possibilities that suggested. She was quick to turn her attention elsewhere. Around the trunk the floor was cut away dropping directly down to the floor below them. Through that hole she was able to glimpse open space and she got a sense of height, as if they were not directly on the ground but slightly above it. 

She was certain that this was no Soua dwelling, and she felt the muscles in her jaw tighten as the only other conclusion came into her mind. The Noa had taken her.

Courtney remembered being separated from Gui' and trying to hold her own against the still thick number of Noa on the landing after the bridge had been blown. It seemed to her that they knew she was responsible for the loss of their access and came with a fury she had not seen. The fight had been worse than the nightmare hunt on Shisari so many rotations prior when they had ended up fighting Yhi, and inadvertently completing her Raya before they had thought her ready. The Noa had quickly surrounded her and she became acutely aware of her vulnerability without Gui'Yata's assistance. They had beaten her down, ripped her mask from her face, and she had been very certain of her own death there in defense of her own city. She remembered slipping into unconsciousness as the Noa continued to viciously beat on her. She was surprised to find herself alive actually, and she wondered vaguely why she was spared, and where they had taken her? She shook her head again deciding that it was not a good time to question her luck. Not that she was altogether safe, for she was still in the middle of what was a well established Noa Camp.

A noise to one side of the pillar in the room alerted her to another presence and she directed her attention to the source. Her headache was quickly forgotten as she concentrated on who was with her in the room.

At the moment all she could see was a hunched and squatting shadow, and at first she wondered if the Noa had somehow found her more interesting as a prisoner than as a meal. She had seen what the Noa would do to some of their more obstinate foes, and she was certainly surprised to find herself in possession of all her limbs. Courtney squinted trying to make out the details of the silent observer near the center post. 

The figure rose slowly to its feet, the shadow was tall and upright, this was no Noa. The figure stepped into the mottled light filtering through the slats pulling back a hood. Courtney drew a surprised and frightened breath a identity of her captor, jumping to her feet. It was a man and he paused tilting his head to one side looking intensely at her face. His face was dirty, gaunt, and deeply lined and a sort of sour expression drew the corners of his wide mouth down. To her surprise he was clean-shaven. He blinked slowly with deep sea blue eyes, startling and vivid coming out of such a worn and haunted face. His hair was cropped short all the way around but stood out at different angles in matted spikes, and it was so dirty that it was hard to tell what shade it was.

He wore around him a crude floor length cape complete with a hood. It was fashioned from carefully selected skins that all matched in shade and texture, darkly gray and there was fur lining the neck of it from what she recognized as nlanka. She could only think that it had to be stifling hot to wear in this climate or perhaps it was only being worn now for some show of superiority. There here was not a bead of sweat on his brow. His chest was bared, muscular and smooth winking out at her from under the opening of the cape just under the simple bone fastening at the neck.

One arm hung limp at his side, his fingers barely brushing the tattered fatigues she could see from under the cape. Combat fatigues she noted with a surge of butterflies, just as the boots were standard army issue. His other arm remained hidden from her sight and she felt her hackles rise at the thought of what the man might be hiding under that formless cloak.

Courtney's gaze moved back to the man's face her eyes searching for some hint of purpose on his features. He continued to stand there staring at her for long moments and neither of them moved. When he shifted again, Courtney jumped despite herself, then slid into a defensive position as he began to move closer to her. His eyes restlessly looked her up and down, and a question formed in his face that said she was a mystery to him. His eyes suddenly shifted back to her face those blue orbs drilling into her. Then he spoke, or she thought he did, what came out was an unintelligible stream of clicks in varying tones, pitches, and lengths. It reminded her a lot of the Saruku, the language of the young when they were first trying out their vocal talents. It was uncanny just how much the two were similar.

It was Courtney's turn to tilt her head to the side as the man repeated whatever it was that he was trying to say to her, "Mister, I don't speak, Noa." She said gruffly resisting the urge to step back from his proximity to her, "You want to ask me something you have to use my native tongue."

The man's eyes furrowed at her almost as if he didn't understand English at all. Then he looked down a moment his face contorting heavily then he looked back up at her, "W… Wh… oo… rrrrr… Y…Y… Yooou?" he asked in an exaggerated way.

"The better question is who are you?" Courtney retorted. And she jumped back as he put his hand up waving it up and down.

"S…low," He said next, "L..lon…g time si…nce…l…last use. Wh…o… arrre, you?"

"I am Raha," Courtney replied, comfortable only to give her Soua hunting name.

"I…am…Skiateta," he replied, his skills with English seeming to come back more quickly though the last word what should have been his name was again an unintelligible singsong of clicks. He shook his head seeming to realize that she would not understand the translation, "Thomas….Gr..gregory, Sergeant, Third Infantry D…ivision, f…ormerly of the Organization."

Courtney drew another sharp breath, Third Division had been the division that Gerard had been in charge of in the assault on the ship. Her theory and the Soua's fears had been realized, here was a human, a survivor of the fields beyond Donona Landing. He had arrived here at the same time she had, he had lived here the past thirteen rotations as well.

"Why am I here?"

"I s…aa.ved your life, y…you… should be grateful."

"Thanks," Courtney said sarcastically, "Why are you driving the Noa to kill us?" she added as the thought occurred to her.

"'Us'?" He said cautiously his eyes narrowing at her use of the noun, "You a…are not Brethren…why do you say 'us'?"

"Because the Soua are my people, my family."

He seemed confused by that, "Y…ou came here…willingly?"

Courtney's mouth snapped shut, "No… no I did not. I came here much as you did."

"A prisoner?"

"No, I was a… guest…" She winced as his look darkened, "I was brought on board because I had been injured. When the ship had been forced to leave…by your attack," She added pointedly, "I was stuck on board. To keep from being killed, I trained to be one of them, and I am now a member of their society." Her head lifted in pride at that statement.

The man named Thomas bared his teeth in an ugly reaction, "My time was not so pleasant…Raha," he spit the Soua word mocking her hunting name. His English had nearly smoothed completely, and she wondered if that was in part due to the anger he expressed at the mention of the "Brethren", as he named the Soua, "I was beaten, cut, toyed with, fed little if anything at all. They did not clean our cell, there was no place to sleep. We were plagued by festering sores, rashes, some died from the atmosphere, your precious Brethren did nothing to make us comfortable. Those of us that were left were near death when the Brethren made planetfall. We thought that we had been through the worst of it, we hoped they would kill us mercifully," He laughed a sharp bark, "If only…instead they simply released us sending us unwillingly into the wilderness, to our deaths."

Courtney looked away seeing ugly images in her head. She could not defend the Soua against such accusations, because it was not beyond their species to do such a thing to enemies. She had been largely unaware that there had been prisoners on board, nothing that she could remember was said of their presence. Even when she had found out she really had no concern for their treatment, truthfully she harbored a grudge with them for forcing her on the trip. For a long time she had told herself that they deserved what they got. After that she had been too occupied with her training and studies and their presence faded from her mind altogether. 

"But I did not die!" he shouted hoarsely, snapping her attention back to him, "I didn't!" He quieted again after that, "I watched…yes I saw many of my friends get swallowed up, torn apart, or liquefied by the creatures that occupied that field. Many of my nights are spent remembering the horror of that day. I emerged from that field, a field that none of the others made it through…Only to be found by the Clan." Courtney looked down as the other arm moved and again she drew her breath in sharply in horror. His other arm was not an arm at all, it was a sickly and pale stump criss-crossed with teeth marks, and the skin was slightly translucent, "They argued over whether or not I was food, until their Shaman decided I was their Skiateta, their savior. I was the herald that marked their ascendance over the Brethren. I am to return the planet to its rightful owners, I am to help them take it away from the sick monstrosities that the Brethren have become. We will destroy the technology that was never theirs in the first place, we will force them to live as they should live, off the land, as a hunter should. I have shown the Clan the way to defeat the Brethren…gladly, though I do not share their vision about the outcome of this planet. I will do my part!"

"But why?" Courtney asked, almost afraid of the answer.

An insane look flashed in his eyes, "Why else? Revenge!!"

The wave of Noa warriors below Taysa began to ebb, the jumble of bodies thinning and disappearing into the jungle surrounding he city. This was an event that took the remaining citizens by surprise, again the Noa held the advantage in numbers and yet again they retreated. The defenders huddled in a small group not far from the southern perimeter of Taysa. They were panting, bloody, weak, tired, and hungry. They were nearly out of power cells for their weaponry and had been allowed no time to recharge them.

Quona slowly looked up and regarded the rest of the group, "We will not last if they attack again," he uttered in a tired voice.

"I do not know why they turned back," Temasu voiced what they all were thinking, young enough to be so brash as to say it aloud.

"They may just be taking a short pause before they eliminate us," Nobaya offered.

"Or their orders have changed," Gui'Yata interjected as he joined them from the village. All eyes turned to him as he towered over the kneeling group of warriors, "I believe that they have been recalled to another purpose." 

"What is that you hold?" Quona inquired seeing the mask clutched in his hand, "Another Noa cull?"

Gui'Yata only shook his head, handing the mask to his grandfather, his mandibles clicking loudly. The older Soua took the proffered helm looking at it closely, "This is…Raha's mask!" He stated, "Is she all right?"

"She is gone," Gui'Yata answered weakly, "They have taken her."

"No!" Nobaya said in horror, knowing only too well what the Noa did with 'prisoners'.

Gui'Yata looked down nodding slightly before slumping down next to them, "We were separated during the battle against the second wave of insurgents. By the time I was able to return to the spot where I had left her, she was gone."

The young Soua looked down flexing his fingers on his left hand in an attempt to speed up the return of feeling in that limb. There was still only limited movement in his arm, and he wondered fearfully if he had treated it too late and that the damage was permanent. He looked at his fingers seeing how cool they were in comparison to the rest of his body temperature. He growled under his breath knowing that he should be seeing a Soyasa about his injury, but too concerned about the disappearance of his partner to care.

He looked around him seeing that all of his fellows had similar injuries to his own and like him none moved to take themselves out of the fight, "What else was lost?" He asked knowing that his consuming search for Courtney had detached him from the bigger picture of the health of the city's population.

"The losses are surprisingly light," Quona answered him, "You and Raha's quick actions may have saved us from a total loss. They seemed to grow weary of scaling the tree below us even as the bodies mounted higher. Our only losses came from the group that ambushed us from behind. There are fifteen injured and eight dead…and one missing," The Quona added solemnly.

"We need help," Tomakaya said gruffly, "We will not last another assault we are too few now."

Quona nodded slowly not looking at the younger Female, "That is already in the process of happening, Tomakaya. I have sent a team to make a patch to the message units and they should be about finished."

Suddenly a warrior burst through the contemplative group dropping to one knee in front of Quona and signaling his respect for the old warrior. Quona reached across the space between them tapping the young hunter on the shoulder, "What is it Kremaa?"

"Quona, a small group of Noa escaped the landing!" Kremaa replied crisply, "There was a human with them, a male human…"

"Gerard?"

"No Quona, this one is conformed differently from the clusu Raha returned with."

"Then it is true, Bahlana was right," the Quona said looking away from the messenger.

"There is more," The young hunter blurted.

"What?" Quona said in a tone that promised retaliation if protocol was so badly broken again.

"Quona, forgive my impertinence, but the Noa carried something away with them. A body."

"One of the warriors? But why?"

"Quona it was too small to be any warrior but one."

"Raha," Quona whispered his mandibles tightening over his jaws until it began to hurt. He looked back up at the warrior, "Which direction did they go?"

"Quona?"

"You obviously followed them for some distance, or else you would have been sooner to me with this report!" The grizzled old Soua snapped.

"Y…Yes, Quona," Kremaa stammered, "They moved northeast toward the Lmarianta swamp. I…I know of a large Noa settlement there. I turned back before reaching there, forgive."

Quona looked away blinking and dismissing the youth with a wave of his hand. Kremaa stooped low in respect and then moved away from the group. The grizzled Soua did not look at anyone for a long time, only fingering the skull that rested in the crook of his thin neck.

"But why?" Gui'Yata said breaking the long silence that fell after the report was delivered. Temasu had possessed enough sense to retire from the group just after Kremaa's arrival and now only the remainder of the Eesan remained behind.

The Quona shook his head, "I don't know."


	11. Help or Die

Hi there,

I am terribly sorry about the delay in getting this next chapter written. The past few months have been downright depressing, and it has been terrible trying to get my head together enough to put the thought to paper (or Computer in this case). 

I hope that the work has not suffered too much in my distracted state. Please stay with me, I hope to get myself back on some kind of schedule here soon!

Darwin

(Enjoy)

Chapter Ten: Help or Die

Gui'Yata burst through the doors of the dwelling where Gerard was being carefully guarded since arriving on the planet. In this small growth he had been staying since that day, carefully protected from the visitors that often came through the city. They were fearful of others finding the unaccounted for human in their midst, it seemed. What he had gathered was that his presence had not been divulged and that could mean excommunication from their society. Gerard's presence, hence, was a carefully guarded secret. 

The Soua had been severely disappointed that Gerard had not followed Courtney's example and at least attempted to become one of them. That at least would have given him a foot in the door if he had returned here a fully-fledged hunter. As it was, he was a burden to their society, and they grew quickly tired of protecting him. They made sure that he knew that on every occasion. They bumped into him on purpose while walking the city, many would stop him in the street and glower at him while he cowered in their shadow, knowing not to make eye contact with them. 

Gerard knew that he needed to try and fit in, knew that he would have to ask for the training that would make him socially acceptable. And yet he balked at the idea, feeling deep down that he would lose sight of just who he was, something he had suffered from thirteen years prior when he had worked for the Organization. That lack of forethought had nearly cost him his life at the hands of his employers. 

When the fighting had broke out he had attempted to join the fray, something about the attack threatened his own safety as well. His guard, who made it clear in no uncertain terms that Gerard was not worthy of joining in to protect the city, blocked him from that act. Gerard did not need to speak or understand the language, the spear point aimed at his chest was explanation enough. He had considered forcing his way past the creature, but thought better of it. He had shrugged and turned back to the Spartan quarters, sure that any attempt to help these creatures would only result in his own death. Recently it had become quiet and Gerard had begun to wonder just what had happened.

Gerard looked up startled by the thick Soua's violent entrance into his space. He turned to face the alien, taller than he by at least a head and a half, crossing his arms. The creature looked angry and frustrated with something. Gui'Yata stopped short of the smaller human, crossing his arms in a mirror of Gerard's posture, "You have heard?" The alien started in perfect English, and Gerard noticed a grin flickering at the corners of the alien's mouth at his startlement.

Gerard shook his head negatively, frowning heavily, "Heard what?"

The large creature looked down, "The Noa have taken Courtney hostage."

"What!" Gerard replied in a fearful whisper.

"It is true," Gui'Yata nodded in response, "They have gone into Lmarianta and we are gathering a party together to retrieve her. You must come with me now." He stated gravely.

"What? Why me?" Gerard protested.

"She was taken on the orders of a human," Gui'Yata watched as a shock went through the Earthen soldier before him. After a moment his body relaxed again.

"Why would you need me?" He asked again, his heart still pounding. Yet he was not willing to be liaison to these creatures to treat for Courtney's life, "I don't know what I could say to convince him to return Courtney or to stop these attacks," Gerard finished shrugging and turning away to hide the anxiety he was feeling suddenly, "Really you should be more careful about who and what you bring back here." Gerard added sarcastically.

He was spun violently back around by the alien and lifted bodily off the ground. Gerard blinked heavily looking into that enraged foreign face, "Because…the human is a soldier from your group!" The creature growled, "If anyone can convince him of this war's madness it would be you…you were his leader!"

"O…One of my men?" Gerard repeated in a small voice, "They survived? But you…your people killed them all."

The anger drained from Gui'Yata's face suddenly and he pushed Gerard out, releasing his grip and watched as the man fell heavily to the floor. Shaking his head the alien said, "They were not all killed immediately," He sounded to Gerard like he regretted that decision, "Several were taken prisoner the night your people attacked, they were brought back here. They were released into the fields beyond the landing and were assumed killed by what lives there in the grasses."

"They made it through," Gerard finished, a certain note of pride filling his voice.

"_He _made it through, no more," Gui'Yata corrected quickly, "Now he poisons the Noa with some scheme. It is too much coincidence that he is in their group and only recently have they begun to attack us in earnest. This man…has taken Courtney."

Gerard looked at the alien sourly, "And you want me to fix this?"

"She means a lot to me I would like to see her return," The alien admitted. Then he cocked his head to one side seeing the look on Gerard's face, "Does she mean nothing to you?" He asked crossing his arms, standing taller and staring down its fangs at him. Gerard remained silent, looking down at the rough floor. He returned his gaze to the creature when it let out a heavy, very human like sigh, "I thought to have seen interest for her in your eyes…but then I am not a expert on human emotions. Perhaps I was wrong." The creature Gui'Yata grunted derisively and turned to leave, "The council is still pending on the decision to allow you to live," He added without turning back, "We have no use for uselessness in this society. Grapada is most certain to release you."

"Wait," Gerard said catching Gui'Yata before he disappeared onto the landing. The creature turned back toward him, "I'll help," He blurted before his nerve gave out.

He watched as the creature nodded, and there was a light in his eyes. With a sinking sensation in his gut he realized that he had just been played.

"It took ten long 'rotations' to prepare for this war," Thomas said nodding to Courtney, "Time to gather enough gear, to spy on the cities and gather information, to formulate plans, and to decide where best to start the slaughter.

"We watched with interest when Taysa and Donona began fighting with each other. In that lay the seed of a fine plan. Our original thought was to attack the Brethren, openly declare a war, but I knew, as the Clan did that the Brethren possessed greater technology, even if Clan numbers surpassed their own. When your civil war broke out we decided that it was the perfect way to destroy the Brethren. Attack a city looking like their own, automatically blame would go to the other better-established cities. We instigated Donona into thinking that you, the Taysa, had done it, the rogues, already beleaguered by the mainstream, they were the easiest of all to convince that society had finally desired their extermination.

"Right now, the Brethren should be at each other's throats…only their not," Thomas stepped in to Courtney's space looking very ugly, "For a long time I could not figure out why their reaction had not been as predicted. They are a very biased people, very proud and willful. Affronts to their code of honor are usually swiftly and harshly dealt with. Only no war had broke out…because of you."

He nodded as he turned away again, "A human amongst the Brethren, a level head with a different view on the world. You somehow convinced each of the three sides that the other two had not been the root cause of their problems," Courtney snorted, he was giving her way too much credit for her part in these events.

"I really had nothing to do with the idea to talk rather than fight," Courtney growled.

"Please don't underestimate yourself," Thomas said unconvinced, "They are too passionate about the hunt, about fighting to think of negotiations."

Courtney looked down at her feet realizing that she was not going to change his mind. His own bias seemed to be clouding his view of the Soua. She changed the subject, "But why after all these millennium would the Noa wish for the destruction of the Soua? They coexisted peacefully before you planted this idea in their heads to take the planet for themselves."

"I did not plant the idea!" Thomas bellowed, then more quietly he said, "The thought has been simmering in their minds for over two and a half millennium. You don't understand what happened here…The Brethren aren't natural to this world!"

Courtney tilted her head at that statement, realizing that he had said that before to her, "Then make me understand it."

Thomas looked at her a long time not blinking. Suddenly he sighed, moving away he sat down on the pile of crudely cured skins. Courtney slowly moved nearer him, but did not join him on the furs. Thomas started softly, "The Clan has told me to the best of their recollection the events surrounding the current power balance on this world. 

"The Brethren split from the clan long ago, taking to the trees, where life was easier. They were the weakest of the Clan unwilling to endure the conditions and constant dangers of the forest floor. Then the Clan begrudged them nothing, for the Brethren kept contact, discovering new things to hunt and trade from their new treetop world. Sometime after that, when is not certain in the reckoning of the Clan, but long ago, when the planet was still new, the Masters visited this planet and took many of the Brethren for their own purposes. Trapped in the trees the Brethren had been very easy to capture. It is said because the Brethren were such fierce and cunning hunters, that they were warriors that the Masters had to have to swell their ranks. The Clan lost all contact with the Taken Brethren for the many hundreds of years following the Masters arrival. Life was lived as it had always been hunting, fighting for survival, mating and raising the young and teaching them to hunt in turn. Both the Clan on the floor and the Brethren in the trees lived in harmony each complementing and assisting the other to make life more bearable on this inhospitable world.

"In the passing of time The Taking had become legend, stories to tell the young in order to keep them in line on hot and sleepless nights. None of the current population believed the stories to be true. Then the Master's ship returned and Clan and Brethren alike quailed at the sight looming in the summer sky. It had been like a great earthquake as the ship had touched down, breaking the sky with a large crack, flattening trees that had stood for millennia. After a long passage of time the vessel was silent, and the Clan and Brethren stood at a distance observing the metal monstrosity now perched atop the ruin of the forest.

"The masters had returned and all was lost to the minds of the population. Many ran from the site unwilling to be swallowed up by the ship, to become slaves to the Masters after so many generations of freedom.

"What stepped off the ship was wholly unexpected, they were definitely not the Masters as the stories had described them. The Masters had been tall very thin, their heads were egg shaped with a high flat forehead, their eyes were huge, dark orbs, slanting upward from the almost non-existent nose in their face. Their mouths were thin lines below the two specks that were their insufficient nostrils. Their skin was smooth and they wore no clothing. They were an advanced race, and though they were at war with another highly advanced civilization they themselves did not battle. They took more primitive warlike species and made them into their army forced to fight in their stead. 

"The Clan moved closer to observe the new arrivals. These were not the Masters…what emerged from the Master's ship was something entirely different from that. A realization sent a wave of horror through the Clan. They were looking at the descendants of the Taken Brethren, wholly changed from the warriors of old that had been taken into space. The Masters had certainly liked their new hunters, their new front line in the galactic war they waged, but they had found need for improvements. They tampered with them, shaping their bodies to more resemble their own. The Masters gave them eyes, the ability to see heat, to make them more effective in the battles that they would wage. They made the Brethren taller more massive with long locks of hair genetically changed from the sparse spikes that adorned the Clans' crowning ridges. They split their fingers adding several digits to enhance their ability to manipulate items and shorter and flatter clawed feet with gripping toes to enhance their innate climbing ability. The Masters made them in their own image, only more crude more vicious than the Masters could ever be. They had enjoyed playing God with their newfound living toys. They had desecrated all that the Clan was in making their Brethren to fight in the stars.

"Even their language had strayed from the Clan's own and they found it difficult to communicate with their bastard cousins. And in their frustration with the simple peoples still living on Soona these space-fairing Brethren began to massacre them. The Brethren that had lived in the trees since before the time of the Taking were ousted from their homes, and were forced to return to the forest floor where the Clan reabsorbed them. These new Brethren took over the treetops, beginning to transform the traditional homes with their newly stolen Master technology.

"They could no longer be considered of the planet, they were too foreign to it, removed from their stock by time, distance, and mutilated DNA. Yet they took it from the Clan upsetting the power balance. For many rotations they harried and hunted the Clan, for sport, for fun. That occupation dulled for them after a time, in which they had become prolific, their population nearly tripling. 

"But they were bored with what their small planet had to offer having hunted and fought off planet for so long. They saw no challenge in the Soona's fauna to suit them and that is when they began the tradition of a pack ship, of seeking other stars for more challenging prey.

"You see, they do not deserve the planet…their right to it was forfeit when the Masters remade them like so much molding clay."

Courtney could not speak for a long time…they were originally Noa? And these Masters had made them into mutant slaves? That sent a shiver up her spine, that their past was filled with such slavery. They had used the Soua as attack dogs so as not to sully their own hands with war. How sickening was that? Courtney wondered if the Soua knew this course of events for themselves? She had certainly never heard mention of such a history in her ten rotations with the society.

"Now that you are here, it will be that much easier for us to defeat them," Thomas added rising again, "You have much information, I am sure, about their society. Their prides, their weaknesses."

"You think," Courtney started her eyes narrowing, "You think that I would help you kill and maim my friends, my family?"

"Your Family!" He barked laughing, "You really think that you are any more than a well trained pet to them?"

Courtney's head raised higher until she was looking down her nose at him. Her fury flooded up and she reacted before she could calm the tide. She rushed at him intent on throttling his life from his body. A look of shock passed over his face but he had recovered and signaled before she could reach his back-stepping form. 

Where they came from she was not sure but suddenly eyeless Noa surrounded her, each latching strong clawed hands about her to restrain her. Before she knew what had happened she was shackled to the center post of the dwelling, feeling a slimy strip of decayed flesh pressed against her wrist. She struggled heavily against the bonds as she watched the Noa retreat to the corners from which they came and suddenly blend, fading from sight as their chameleon like skin changed to match the mottled light and dark of the dusky walls.

Courtney glared back down at Thomas as he strode back up to her, "Oh, you'll help me all right…or you'll die where you hang. See if you don't supply me with information…I have one of them bite you. You ever seen what a Noa bite does?" Courtney shook her head minutely, "Hurts like crazy right off the bat then the numbness takes over. You know what happens then?" Courtney looked down on the madman a mixture of fury and fear in her eyes, then shook her head in the negative, "You'll get the privilege of watching your own flesh melt off your body. Too bad too," He said smiling wickedly, running a hand up her inner leg to her crotch grabbing her roughly, "You're so pretty…and it's been so long."

Courtney kicked out viciously, wincing as it came up against the chain to the shackle sending pain all the way up her leg. He ducked away laughing at her, then turned to leave, "Think about it…I'll be back."


	12. Escalation

Ok, it's starting to get good now! Sorry again for the delay, finding time to write lately had been a real chore! Hope you like this and I will continue to get these out even if it is not as fast as I would like!

Keep R/R ing I enjoy the reviews!

Thanks!

Darwin

Chapter Eleven: Escalation

Gerard was panting heavily, his legs aching and rubbery, trying hard to keep up with Gui'Yata loping easily to his left. His chest hurt, and sweats beaded and rolled down into his eyes, his back, and into places that were altogether miserable with the moisture. His dark hair was matted against his face and obscured his vision. That was already starting to corona with fatigue the dark circle narrowing the longer he moved. His arms were leaden and as his swing decreased his steps minced closer together. The Soua had set a ground eating pace, scouts on Yimhi running in great strides ahead of the main party, but most were on foot covering ground easily despite the lack. 

Gerard badly wanted to slow the pace, to stop and drink some water, to regain his breath. He was frightened to ask the favor, when he was owed none with these creatures. He had allowed that fate to befall him with his lack of action, for being the burden he was to their society. He continued to keep his mouth shut and ran with reserves of strength that were fast dwindling in the face of the road still ahead of them. He did not know just how much longer he could continue. He felt himself stumble, regain his footing only to stumble again. Each time his tall companion's attention would turn unobtrusively to him, as if the creature expected him to fall, to fail. Gerard was unsure just what the creature's thoughts were, but waves of guilt for his own weakness washed over him.

Gerard was driven by another thought, another reserve of strength that dulled his senses to the complaints of his body. The alien had hinted at it, and until now he had denied the feeling in himself. There was a spark of caring for Courtney, of attraction there within him, an urge to keep her safe, and it was feeding him strength beyond the physical. Courtney was elusive, hard to read with her melded cultural styles. He still did not know her whole story; she had been very private about her earthen past when she had been so open about her recent past on Soona. There was a pain there in her eyes when he looked at her, some deep hurt that she had been unwilling to share. He had seen the way that she started to give over to an obvious, at least physical, attraction, only to see the wall come up. She was so good at defending her emotions and he was unsure whether it was the society she was in now or that something had happened in her past that made her defensive emotionally. He had wanted to find out more about her, even from the first, when he had found her in the company of the alien Gui'Yata, on the ship, on earth what seemed like eons ago in his consciousness. What would give her the drive to forsake all that she was on Earth and trade it for a life where every day she faced death? He still wanted to know that, he wanted something more from her than the business like style with which she had regarded him with to this point. And there was a very real possibility now that he would never get the chance.

"No," He thought physically shaking his head as his leaden feet continued to pound unfeeling on the mossy soil. If he had any influence on events Courtney would be returned to them, to him. He was not sure how that was going to come about but he was determined to do what he could to deal with his unit mate, and make this all right again.

Gerard's noise echoed loudly in Gui'Yata's ears, irritating him. The sound would carry a long way in these woods, and were there enemy ears the man would give away their approach. Gui'Yata did not think that the human realized just how loud he naturally was. He would leave the human behind, as others had already sub vocalized to him to do, were it not for the overwhelming feeling that this man was vitally important to the rescue, and the outcome of this war. It was a feeling that he had tried to rationalize away, suddenly seeing a soft spot that he seemed to have developed for the humans, telling himself that he had been exposed to their culture too long. Yet the feeling would not leave him, Gerard had a part to play and it had not yet come to the end of it. 

He shook his head minutely smiling under his mask. Courtney was the same way when she had first begun her training. She had been so easy to track and overcome that first year in training. He had assumed that she would figure out just why he was able to find her so easily when practicing between trees very similar to these. He had finally enlightened her of his observation when it became obvious that she would not think of it on her own. She had since mastered stealth, better than some Soua that he knew. That pang went through him again at the thought of what was being done to Courtney while she was being held in the swamps. 

"She had better be safe," He thought angrily. The world around him grayed out for a moment as his thoughts turned to what he would do if the human that he had come to like, even love in his own way, came to harm or died, "Yanah protect them if they have hurt her," he thought a wave of anger making his blood white hot.

The rasping sound coming from Gerard penetrated his thoughts and his hackles rose again. He looked to his right and down seeing the heavy reds and oranges of the man's body indicating that he was nearing the end of his endurance. Gui'Yata grimaced under his mask, realizing that they may have to pause on their way to allow the human to regain some of his strength. That grated on his already anxious thoughts, wanting to get to Lmarianta as soon as was possible, get Courtney out quickly, and kill this human responsible for her capture.

He looked away again seeing the coursing bodies of the infiltration party all around him. Only three of them were from the founding party, Nobaya, Yaha and himself. The others were varying members of their city, Tomakaya and Temasu had insisted on joining the party, each having a reason to seek vengeance against these Noa. 

Tomakaya he understood, she was a seasoned warrior, a great asset to this hunt, but Temasu? He was young, not even blooded yet in the hunt. On his other claw though, the boy had already shown great cunning and foresight in his escape from Hosmara Field. His body still bore the long sword scar down his back. It was proof of his bravery transporting the clue that had been essential to their investigation into the bloody ambushes. Quona himself had given the boy special dispensation to join the hunt.

Many of the others attending this rescue were equally incensed with the Noa, each having suffered some undue loss from the two attacks upon Taysa. In all there were thirty of them ranging silently through the trees in a rough semicircle of warriors and all looking for Noa blood. This time they would have the element of surprise and the fury of the righteous to back them.

Gui'Yata glanced sideways as he saw Gerard falter again and reaching to his helmet transmitted a signal he had hoped not to have to make. The group immediately slowed allowing the looping middle, Gui'Yata and Gerard at its apex to catch up with them. Quickly the scouts jumped from their mounts and scaled the trees, needing no prompting to remind them that they were in enemy territory. Gui'Yata watched the party disperse into the thick cover on the edge of a clearing and soon none was to be seen. Silence fell over the forest as the rustling died, and the trees took on foreboding anticipation at upcoming events. Gui'Yata shivered despite his exercise.

He shifted his attention to the human standing just a bit behind him bent over with his head hanging low and his hands upon his knees. He looked barely able to stand and his chest was heaving mightily as he tried to process the thinner oxygen content in the air. Gui'Yata knelt down staring at the man, "Will you survive?" He was alarmed at the heart rate his helmet revealed in the man, high even for a human.

"Sure," Gerard panted, glancing at the alien through his bangs, "No problem…I…don't….know why… you stopped."

"Because, your body tells the truth even when you prefer to lie to save face," Gui'Yata stated flatly. He shook his head minutely, "This is one Soua whom you do not have to throw up a façade for."

"Yes you," Gerard continued, "But… what about…the rest."

Gui'Yata shrugged in that very human way, "Let them think what they will, they will not go against Quona's orders."

Gui'Yata straightened looking to the horizon. He estimated that the swamp was only several clicks away, and that their time table would not be set back too badly by a break, they would most certainly make it before nightfall. He stumbled back as the ground shook violently his dew-claws reacting instinctively to keep him on his feet. He did not see when Gerard was thrown to the ground by the force of it. A quiet rumble began steadily rising in intensity until it not only filled their ears but tried to control their heart rates as well. At first he had thought it was a sinkhole even if they were rare this time of year, but the echo did not sound proper, it did not sound like it was coming from under the ground, it sounded as if it was coming over it.

"What's going on?" Gui'Yata shouted into his mask, aiming his question at the sentries. They did not answer him at once. And the sinking feeling in his gut played counterpoint to the rumbling world around them. Gui'Yata heard the loud whooshing sound just clear his head and watched in horror as the tree where the left hand sentry had been explode into small splinters of wood.

Quona heard the warning from the sentries on the perimeter fence and his eyes automatically went towards the swamp. Yet there was no sign of threat from that direction and he shifted his gaze taking in what he could see of the perimeter. The alarm had been raised to the East, well away from the swamplands. He began to move that direction but was intercepted by a runner bearing news.

"Quona," The young warrior said respectfully bowing low, "An army approaches."

His heart leapt, "How many?" He said calmly despite the anxious feeling.

They had repaired the communications devices just before the rescue party had left, relaying their still beleaguered state to Donona. They were isolated now the Noa had effectively cut them off from the rest of their own world. Scouts had reported watchers at nearly every crossing through the forest surrounding their home. They would try to travel the treetops only to find small bands of Noa fighters to bar their path, many had been turned back others had gone out and never returned. Quona did not know if any had actually made it through the net. The Noa were gathering again, preparing to attack and Taysa's numbers were so few with the rescue party gone that the resistance would be easily overwhelmed. He was certain that the Noa knew of their deficit as well. It was only a matter of time, but how long was a mystery.

The Eesan had dismissed his claims at first, unwilling to believe the Noa were anywhere close to being capable of the kind of organization that had so nearly destroyed their world. They still held to the belief that the Soua were the supreme beings on the planet. The Noa were mere animals playing at civilization. Quona frowned at that thought, that sort of thinking would mean extermination. And with that knowledge he had presented visual evidence of his discovery, the proof of not only the Noa's involvement but exactly how they had managed to get them all to believe that they had been fighting their own.

Unlike previous attacks the Noa had not been given the chance to clean up or destroy the physical signs of their presence. The band that had made it over the Treetop Bridge had been quickly isolated by Raha's destruction well placed barrage of plasma grenades, and with much intense fighting killed. They had more than a dozen Noa bodies many still rotting where they lay, and they had the modified masks with skins glued to the insides. The evidence was more than even the overly biased Ot Eesan could refute. Reluctantly they had promised an army, one to fight off and hopefully rid the Soua Society of the Noa threat. After all they could not hunt if they had to concern themselves with fending off Noa attackers every time they tried to board ship.

But then the question in Quona's mind became, who had come first? Had Donona's army come or was it another wave in the already crippling attack by the Noa? 

"At least three hundred, Quona," The hunter said.

"Hm, show me," Quona replied following as the younger Soua turned and headed back in the direction he had come.

They paused at the railing and Quona picked out the thick mass of individually moving heat signatures moving through the forest below them. His body relaxed visibly, Donona had made it first. There was renewed hope welling up in his hunt hardened heart. 

The Soua did not conduct their armies in a traditional sense, to look at the group it was disorganized groups spreading and overlapping across the land. It looked essentially like barely controlled chaos. That look was farthest from the truth. Parade formations were all well and good if you wanted to look impressive for some high ranking Eesan with a penchant for dressage. It was not a very functional way to conduct a war however. Formations were too easy to hit, the steady procession provided convenient targets all in a line, and practically painted targets on the backs of the leaders of each group. The Soua way was much more efficient when it came to resources, all the members moving willy-nilly about the field making hard targets of their forms. They continually were mixing and remixing until the enemy could not pick out whom led and who followed. The spacing between targets was also greater so an enemy might hit one target but would be unable to make it a mass casualty. It was highly effective.

Quona noted with some dismay that several of the warriors were already bloodied by battle, and he knew that the Noa had tried to halt the advance of the only help that Taysa had coming. He moved grimly to the lift and slowly descended the tree in it meeting the grizzled Soua leading the party below the city. It was Tlamak, the second oldest Soua on the Ot Eesan, nearly thirty years Lyonas' elder. Quona bowed low to the Soua, one of the most respected Sougra ever to hunt the galaxy. Quona's own impressive reputation paled compared to this Soua's exploits.

Tlamak's head was thick with short stiff spikes paled completely white. His hair was smoky gray just a shade darker than his skin, but it was so ornamented that hardly any skin from it showed but the tips. His skin was nearly devoid of all markings. He was tall and had begun to show signs of the frailty that only came with extreme age. His skill was not to be discounted however, though he did less hunting and fighting that some on the Ot Eesa his strategy was second to no Soua, living or dead. His armor and weapons were very old, and it was said that his teacher had been so impressed with his skill as a Fausi that he had given Tlamak his own armor. They were immaculately kept however, functioning now as well or better than it had upon inheritance. Tlamak was fingering his raspa impatiently as Quona stayed stooped over in his presence.

"You honor us with your coming," Quona said respectfully. 

Tlamak motioned to him to straighten, "What has transpired here?" The old Soua's voice grated quietly. He listened intently as Quona retold the whole tale of the attacks since leaving Donona and ending with his sending of the party to get Raha out of the Noa's custody. The Ot Eesan frowned deeply at the mention of the human, "Your city places too much weight on the human's benefit, to the peril of all," Quona frowned now, then the Ot Eesan went on, "No matter," He growled proudly, "We will soon be done with them. And their refuse will while away their time hiding in holes in the ground when we've finished. Then they will go the way of the Glantanta only remembered in the Telling."

Lyonas only nodded, even if the words sounded a little too much like counting Bwanga before they had spawned.


	13. The Battle Joined

Chapter Twelve: The Battle Joined

Gui'Yata watched in stunned silence as the last of the leaves filtered down to the forest floor and what seemed to be a huge tendril slithered back into the growing gloom of the night. He registered the blue coldness from the long sleeve of metal fit onto the thing. It was fashioned in a long flat coil each section overlapping the next and nubs of metal spiraled down its length. The tip was fashioned with long blades to add bite to the whipping action of the attack, to ensure decimation of all it touched. He shook himself out after a moment, knowing that he knew what he had just seen but unable to believe the reality of it. He looked back to where the ancient tree had stood seeing the broken and jagged stump where one of his party members had been killed just moment's prior. He then looked back into the gloom trying to think of what creature on this planet was that large… he was suddenly drawing a blank. Slowly an image of a creature appeared in his mind, forming bit-by-bit, fitting the size and manner of the attack he had just witnessed.

The rumble started again, only this time there was a separation of seconds between each booming shake. Each one jolted the party anew and many of them stood at the ready yet looked worried because many were coming to the same conclusion as Gui'Yata already had. He began to issue an order into his mic but the sound was drowned out as the air filled with a thrumming roar. A head snaked into their view, and then drew back, its long sinuous neck sharply curving into an "s". The flat toothy snout opened wide as it roared angrily again its neck straightening horizontal to the ground still some forty feet from the ground. The long feathers framing it's muscular cheeks shook with the vibration causing them to flutter wildly adding an underlying hum to the din. He could see the entire creature now. It stood very tall at the shoulder with a cape of feathers longer than many of the drop ships that the Soua possessed standing out and away from its body like hackles. It lifted its long muscular legs clear of the muddy ground flashing the flat dagger clawed feet as it shifted its weight for another swipe. Gui'Yata noted the large bands about its legs covered in sharp cutting wires to prevent his party from attacking or climbing the creature to take control of it. It's sloping back was banded with muscles and its shorter back legs stood wide to balance him as his tail continued to cause devastation to Taysa's ranks. Gui'Yata's eyes narrowed as he took a look at the mature male Habade, for atop its flattened skull stood a small figure holding tightly to a set of reins. The reins ended in large barbed hooks that were firmly imbedded into the two closely set nostrils dead center in the creatures pug face. It was hard to make out in the growing dark and the constant movement of the creature's head. He noted that the figure was stooped over somewhat and seemed to be standing on the balls of its feet. Gui'Yata sucked a sharp breath through his mandibles… A Noa! How? How had the Noa tamed a bull Habade? 

The animal handlers in his society considered the feat impossible. They were too unruly, to hard to handle and too large to try and subjugate. Yhi Queens were hard enough, a bull Habade was a nightmare. Killing them was no easy task, as it took thirty to forty hunters all with wide beamed plasma cannons to burn through to something vital. Habade were mean-tempered at all times and worse when they came into rut. How had the Noa accomplished it? He was not given the time to dwell on the subject, seeing that the creature's stance was setting up for another whipping tail attack.

Gui'Yata acted instinctively snatching up Gerard and bolting towards thicker cover as the creature finished shifting its mass. It drew that long whip like tail into position for another strike. The armored tail whistled through the air just missing his head, as it was he was nearly felled by the wind that it had disturbed. Gui'Yata stopped abruptly somersaulting backwards as the knives struck the ground just in front of him and plowed through a dozen or more Soua trying desperately to get out of its way. When Gui'Yata landed he twisted his body around and sprinted toward the creature trying to get clear of its range attack. Some ran back past the outer range of the creatures tail, but most did as Gui'Yata, coming inside the perimeter where an attack was less effective. As he ran he could hear a steadily increasing noise of clicks, not Sou but something similar. Hundreds of voices were speaking at once and the sounds blended until it was a thrumming almost as loud as the Habade's bellow. From behind the creature came a wave of Noa, surging over the ground en mass to dispose of Gui'Yata's party. They came uncovered this time, revealing themselves for what they were, for they were on their own territory and they knew that their ruse had been foiled.

Gui'Yata screeched to a halt many of his party doing likewise as they saw the onslaught of Noa bodies streaming past the attacking Bull. He grimaced when he saw the creature shift and several Noa were caught by the sudden move and crushed under one massive foot. He set Gerard on his feet ignoring the man's look of indignation for having been treated like a football over the past several minutes. They were now stuck between the range attack at the outer edges where the Habade could crush or slice them to bits and the oncoming Noa army racing across the swampy ground. They did not have much time before this lopsided battle would be joined. Gui'Yata reached up to his shoulder detaching the plasma cannon from its mechanized arm. He touched several studs nodding as a gun mounted sighting system materialized. Then he handed the weapon to Gerard. Gerard looked stunned a moment, and swallowed hard as he understood the implications of their predicament.

Gui'Yata pointed out a stud on one side of the weapon. "Touch the stud, and the sights will light your target, press it firmly to fire," he watched as Gerard nodded grimly taking the weapon and testing it's weight, "Also the range is not limited on it, but I would recommend that you take them closer. It is a very narrow beam, and a closer shot would give you a better chance of hitting them."

"I have used a weapon or two before," Gerard stated testily. Still he looked uncertain about this.

Gui'Yata raised an eyeridge at him, "Do not be timid about the killing, the pack is fresh and will last until at least the rise of Chai, the sun," Gui'Yata added. 

"How long is that?" Gerard asked noting that suddenly he had no equivalent of that in hours.

Gui'Yata looked down a moment, activating his wrist mounted Yoysa and extending his Sraha, "About ten hours in human reckoning of time," he stated evenly.

"The fighting should be over by then right?"

Gui'Yata looked up at him smiling strangely, "If you say so."

They turned in unison to face the now fracturing group of Noa, each group cutting off the members of his party, in groups averaging three to ten times their own numbers. A group of a dozen had singled the two lone figures out as their personal battle. Gui'Yata started jogging toward the quickly closing group eager to fight sooner than later, and Gerard shadowed him more reluctant than his Soua companion, but also knowing that he would be dead quickly if he should get separated from the alien. Gui'Yata accelerated quickly until he looked like a striped freight train headed for a wall.

Panic within Gerard rose as the eyeless monstrosities closed on them, and he raised the weapon up still running and lit it. He was amazed at the lack of recoil in the weapon, and very much impressed with the result of his shot. He had not taken just the lead Noa as he had thought to do, he had taken out two and wounded two others badly. He watched in amazement as the four fell to the ground, and two lay unmoving. The lead lay with a large ugly cauterized hole in his chest, the second he had severed the left arm on, another the shot had hit in the head for he had been stooped over and the fourth had a deep burn on the right chest and abdomen. This he all took in, in a matter of seconds watching as a bright flare lit off from the wrist launcher of his alien companion. A second later, the middle of the Group of Noa exploded, scattering bodies everywhere. Gui'Yata was quick to dispatch any who still moved as they finally joined in a melee of moving bodies. It had seemed to take forever for their two parties to actually meet up, but it had all happened in a matter of seconds. Gerard fought without thought for the next half-hour, all of his excursions into the field before leaving the Organization suddenly flooding back into him, even when he had thought them forgotten. He twisted and ducked, slashing with a knife he had suddenly found in his free hand, swinging the plasma rifle like a bludgeon. He felt bones crack and flinched instinctively as blood sprayed over him. Bodies went down all around him. He started to grin, seeing just why the Soua enjoyed the hunt so much, understood why Courtney wanted to stay in this kind of life. He felt claws scratch against his skin, seeing eyeless toothy faces rush at him and try to latch onto his flesh, instinct and training were the only things that could save him now. 

Gui'Yata had warned him on the trek over here, just how the Noa fight, having been involved in several skirmishes in the years between moving to Taysa and their trip back to Earth. He knew he would do well to keep the creatures far from him. Too close could mean the loss of flesh and not in any pleasant way.

When they next paused they had long since killed the first of the Noa who had assaulted them. Many others had followed in a fluctuating stream sometimes thirty sometimes three depending on how involved the Noa were with other things and other fights, but they always came to harry them to try and stop their slow but steady advance. They were doing well, a little too well, and panting a bit Gerard afforded himself a look around. 

They had moved quite a distance from their original joining of the battle. They were getting very near the Habade that had surprised them upon arrival. He could see the tall shifting trunks that were the creatures legs just yards from where they stood, shifting this way and that as the remaining Soua harassed and harried the beast, confusing it and its rider in just where to attack. It was now bloody, several wide plasma burns were painted over its body, and it bellowed mournfully in its pain. The Noa guiding the creature drove it mercilessly, forcing it to continue the attack, when its nature would have made it retreat long before this moment. Unfortunately the Habade had done its intended job, scattering the Soua fighters and considerably thinning their ranks. They were down to ten, and no matter their thirty to one kill ratio there seemed to be no end to the numbers of Noa that were fighting.

At the edge of his vision barely lit by the burning Houta fed fires in the dank growth he could make out stilted huts interspersed amongst the shorter swamp trees. They were very much like those he had seen in the history books of certain tribes that raised their huts off the ground to keep larger predators at bay. They were wood and vine, with long leaves of trees woven together to make a wall, rougher leaves, larger than a palm were layered over the roof to keep the rain out. And though they had tried they could seem to get no closer to them to rescue Courtney. 

Courtney looked out from between strands of matted hair, seeing her guards huddled throughout the dwelling. The five of them were hard to make out, their camouflage matching neatly the pattern of the lights and shadows behind them. It was only reinforced by the fact that they had hardly moved in the four days since she had been brought here. Their lack of movement was inversely proportional to their vocalizations; the constant raspy humming filled her existence, as they conversed, in their own fashion. It was beginning to dull her mind, much as her body was dulled by her incarceration and less than pristine treatment. The only time the creatures came to life was when HE was about to show up. She had come to dread the moment when those creatures stirred. 

His visits were nothing short of brutal, and it always started out the same, with an inquisition about her time with the Soua. Courtney had yet to give in and her defiance seemed to arouse him. He turned to assaulting her sexually to get her to talk. Try as she might to discourage or prevent the events, they happened. Her face flushed red at the images that rolled through her mind at the thought of him. Her skin crawled at the unpleasant remembrance of his rough groping hands moving over her body, his hot breath on her face and the stink of his unwashed body as he forced himself upon her. And she had been powerless to stop it. She had of course tried, and she smiled crookedly at the memory of her knee connecting solidly with his crotch, doubling him over. 

He had her chained about the ankles following the incident, pressing against her as he covered her lips with his mouth. She had leaned into it, trying to get distance between herself and the pole, and when he had yielded enough she had quickly drawn away and then snapped her head forward connecting with a resounding crack with his forehead. He had dropped like a rock as the blood from her split brow trickled into her eye. There was still a heavy bruise between his brows. 

He was not deterred by her assaults on him, rage and lust mingled, and made him determined to break her. He had used whatever sway he had over the Noa to hold her down while he used her as his own personal sex toy. On his signal the Noa would come away from their stoic, statue like guard duty and pin her securely to prevent her from fighting him. She tried, Yanah, how she tried, but it had availed her nothing. 

A wave of goose flesh washed over her as she hung there, with the loathing she felt at such treatment. She felt degraded and dirty, mad for being unable to protect herself from him, and madder still for allowing him to goad her into foolishness. She had lost her grasp of the entire situation; her focus had narrowed too much, concentrating on the Human who led the Noa. She had not assessed her surrounding as she had been taught so many times by Gui'. And that mistake had cost her freedom and the ability to get away with the information she had gathered from Thomas.

Her ex-husband was a saint compared with the abuse this man was capable of. That was the most stinging part of her situation, she had been through very similar events with her Ex, so similar it was chilling. Yet she had not let him get away with what he had done to her, she had brought her plight to the authorities and they had scared him straight. This was different, there was no friendly face, and nowhere to turn, and no recourse save to detach herself from what he did with her body on his visits.

Between his visits she was left hanging here like a piece of meat that had yet to cure properly. He ignored her totally unless he was in the mood for sex, seemingly more involved in what she felt was an action about to take place. There had been an odd thrumming series of booms occasionally the past several days. She had already heard the movement of many bodies both around the dwelling she was in and on the ground below her, seen as pale streaks moving under hole in the floor beneath her feet. She was certain that something big was about to happen.

Slowly her eyes shifted up without moving her head to regard her fingers to remind herself that there was still something up there. She wiggled them a little to see if they still functioned or were as lifeless as they felt. They had gone numb after twelve hours in her current position and now she could barely make them respond to her requests for movement. She tensed her muscles, feeling them protest when they were starved for nutrients and oxygen. With a grimace her body went slack again.

Suddenly the chatter in the room went silent, and the silence was deafening. Slowly she was able to pick up sounds from outside her immediate surroundings. She heard the crackling sound of plasma fire and a roar, so loud it shook even the stilted dwelling that she was in. When the sound had died again she was able to hear another sound…Soua voices. Her head whipped to one of the slatted areas to her right straining her tired eyes to focus beyond the broken view of the swamp beyond, her heart racing in excitement. They had come for her!

She strained against the chains holding her down trying desperately to see just what was going on outside. As her eyes adjusted she was able to see at least in part a huge beast wallowing through bodies that swarmed and regrouped, obviously engaged in battle. She could hear the whooshing sound as the creature's tail lashed through the air scattering bodies like so many toys under a child's angry hand. She grimaced again at the sight, hoping that the Soua were fairing better than it looked to her from this distance. She wondered if Gui'Yata was with the group, and if so was he alright? 

Fires began to sprout in the middle of the swamp as the Noa resorted to using Houta against their enemy. She watched as shadows danced with death back and forth across the field. Her insides fell as she saw new waves of what was obviously Noa streak under her feet and away toward the battle.

"No," she whispered without thinking, beginning anew to struggle against her bonds.

She froze again as another sound reverberated through the air around her. It was familiar, she knew the whine she heard. It was a Ship, a Taya ship!


	14. Death Begets

Hey there guys, I will apologize up front for the loooooooong delay in getting this chapter up for your perusal. Homework for school ended up being a heck of a lot more than I really expected, all of my concentration was bent that direction for the last month. I hope to be a little more attentive to my readers' needs now that I am out of the stress of my previous command, and on leave for the next thirty days! (YEAH!)

Happy hunting, please read and review!

Darwin

Chapter Thirteen: "Death begets…"

Gui'Yata caught himself asking "What now?" under his breath as a new sound filled the air. It was uncommon for him to ask such a question even to himself. He had always taken events as they came and did very little to think upon the future. This particular trip, however, had been filled with too many events that had not been planned for, and now many of his huntsmen were dead because of it. He knew that such was the cost of war, which this had certainly turned into. The Noa wanted the Soua dead, though a reason for such a motive was beyond him. There was always a certain animosity between the two tribes, skirmishes were common for food, for territory, for the spoils of the hunts. Now and again there was a senseless attack by the floor dwelling cousins, but never had they declared all out war on the Soua. It was going to be a war that the Soua were going to lose and soon, for the Noa population far outstripped their own numbers. He could not accept losing his life, nor the Soua losing their superiority to the backward, simple throngs of the Noa. They had come here expecting a small tribe of bandits, led by this human. What they found was a overwhelming population, one well prepared to fight off their attempt at rescue. He was upset by the thought that he would not be able to see Courtney safely away before his own death came. 

The sound that had begun as a low humming soon filled the air, and ran through his body, much as the thrumming roar of the Habade, vibrating him down to his already raw nerves. He paused in his fight, because the Noa before him had done the same turning its sightless face toward a patch of sky somewhere behind him. Its clicking voice grew louder seeming to ask questions of the sound. Gui'Yata did not wait for it to recover its focus straightening and cutting the creature down. Only then did he look where the Noa's attentions had been focused, looking first at Gerard behind him, who was staring up at the sky as well. 

Bursting over the scrubby trees came a shape larger than the Habade by at least three, and Gui'Yata's heart lightened considerably as he recognized it. Gerard looked back at him in confusion, and Gui'Yata met his gaze with a reassuring Soua smile, "The Calvary has arrived," Gui'Yata shouted over the din, coining a phrase that Courtney had often used. Gerard nodded slowly, then jumped back as a Noa rushed out of the darkness toward him. Gerard acted admirably, neatly flipping the sasa in his hand point down and jabbing it into the back of the Noa's skull. Gui'Yata nodded impressed by the display, and quickly tensed, knowing that the Noa would not be alone in it's attack. They had worked through the group in a matter of minutes, and again Gui'Yata looked back toward the ship now looming above them.

Gui'Yata and Gerard both shielded their faces as a bright, white hot bolt erupted from the front of the ship and hit the Habade bull square. The creature lurched heavily sideways, howling shrilly as the beam bit through its tough hide. Its head whipped to the side unseating the Noa still trying desperately to control the wounded beast. The Noa flew grandly through the air for about 100 yards before smashing with a sickening crunch atop one stunted tree. 

Gui'Yata shouted for his warriors to clear, but those who remained were already on the move as the towering creature slowly toppled onto it's side. Gui'Yata braced himself, much as he would for a sink, widening his stance and latching his dewclaws firmly into the ground. It did him little good as the mass of the beast connected with the ground. It was as loud as a thunderclap and bowled any on their feet over for hundreds of yards. Gui'Yata landed heavily his toes aching from his vain attempt to keep his feet. Gerard had been thrown several feet by the concussion of the landing. Gui'Yata looked quickly around him noting the ship's descent toward the earth. It did not land, however hovering several feet from the mire. 

Swarms of bodies flowed out of the many small passenger ports that dotted Quarta's surface, they came quickly undaunted by the grabbing mud below them nor the height from which they had to jump to meet the enemy. They were not of Taysa…though, as he got to his feet and helped Gerard do the same, he thought that they were from Doana, or Hosmara, or possibly both. He smiled grimly, Quona had been able to convince the Ot Eesan of the severity of their plight. When the last of the warriors had emerged from the ship, Quarta quickly lifted from its proximity to the fight. She circled around laying down a line of plamsa fire just at the edge of the forest cutting the supply of Noa warriors down, allowing them only a small window on either end from which to join the battle and giving their own fighters time to get ahead. The bottle neck created would also allow the Soua to pick off the Noa as they attempted to get through.

The Noa, Gui'Yata also noted, had seemed to forget that the two of them were here. The two of them were alone, surrounded by swamp empty of all but the dead and dying. The rest of the Noa had swarmed toward the newer and more critical threat of a fresh army of Soua. Gui'Yata looked around him once again incredulous of the luck Yanah had blessed them with. He turned his gaze to Gerard who looked to be as shocked about the sudden lack of adversaries around them. 

"Yanah smiles on us, Gerard!" Gui'Yata said happily, thumping the human on the shoulder. 

Gerard nodded grimly, "But Yanah is a fickle god," He said in Sou. Gui'Yata had started to move away, but halted abruptly looking back at the human with ill hidden surprise on his face. Gerard smiled crookedly shrugging, "When in rome?" Gui'Yata laughed loudly to be heard even over the sound of Quarta, as Gerard added, "Let's not look her bounty in the face for too long…Let's spring Courtney from this dump."

Mirth was still in Gui'Yata's eyes as he nodded and said, "Agreed." 

Together they moved off toward the far opening in the wall of fire. Finally the stilted houses seemed to come closer, steadily growing as their feet found solid footing of their own accord. They had another rough patch of fighting as they reached the edge of the plasma fed fire obstacle. The Noa still in the city had gathered at the ends in a desperate attempt to join the battle with their beleaguered brethren. Plasma fire lanced past Gui'Yata's shoulder picking off Noa one after another. The young Soua twisted away as a Noa lunged at him bent on impaling him on a long spear surely tipped with venom. As he fell back and away he lit off his yoysa, watching with satisfaction as it tore through the first several of the backed up Noa before detonating and sending bone and flesh in all directions. Gui'Yata backpedaled to regain his feet getting a good view of just how skilled the human he had partnered with was. He was silently impressed, glad that he was not now the man's enemy. The Human had certainly been holding back from them all just what he was capable of. Finally regaining his footing he wheeled back around impaling another Noa that he found to be in his face, carefully avoiding the creatures gnashing teeth still trying to find flesh even as it died on his sraha. He paused a moment to get his bearings, noting the thickness of Noa's in the immediate vicinity. He turned to grab Gerard, but found that the man had thought the same thing and was already heading for the thicker trees to the right of the village. Gui'Yata nodded to himself, twirling in a calculated move, and firing at just the right time into the Noa that were intent on giving pursuit. As the Yoysa detonated he turned and zigzagged through the stunted bushes and trees surrounding the Noa home. Gui'Yata kept eyes on the running form of Gerard, quickly closing the gap between them.

Scrub faded from the landscape gradually growing taller as they inserted themselves further into their sheltering boughs. As Gui'Yata caught up with the man he grunted, "Into the trees Gerard!" He caught the man about the waist and leapt easily to the lower branch on a quickly closing tree. The statement had been as much warning as direction, so as not to get the brunt of an attack from his partner should he be mistaken for a Noa warrior. He bounded higher into the trees, Gerard now latched onto his large back, then moved forward through the surrounding trees, hoping to lose any who might have witnessed their escape. It was not long before they had circled around the opposite the fighting, now looking on the back of the village. He remained still as Gerard slipped from his back and knelt next to him. They were both silent for long moments just surveying the buildings. Gui'Yata scanned slowly seeing different heat signatures through the crudely built walls of each. Noa read very brightly compared to Soua, more so compared to humans, and they were easy to discern. 

His heart leapt as he noted a Human heat signature amongst the brighter glare of the surrounding Noa. He nearly rushed down the tree leaving Gerard behind, leaning forward and preparing to make quick time down the bole. A disparity about the way it moved stopped his advance, however. Gui'Yata sat back on his heels again, watching more closely as the signature moved, seemingly freely through the other bodies, Noa bodies. Some fell in behind as it moved, following it as a favored pet would follow a beloved master. Gui'Yata's eyes narrowed, the Human Noa.

He continued to track the man as he moved quickly through the village heading for the largest of the structures. The human stepped out from between two of the buildings and Gui'Yata heard Gerard suck a quick breath beside him and whisper, "Thomas!"

Gui'Yata turned his attention to the man, "So he is known to you?"

Gerard nodded silently then met the alien's eyes, "He was one of my subordinates. No exactly a man who played with a full deck," Gui'Yata furrowed his brow, not understanding the inference. Gerard shook his head, "He had a huge inferiority complex, everyone picked on him, at least if you asked him. He by all accounts was a little bit crazy. In our line of work it helped," He looked down Gui'Yata and back up again, "No offense there big guy."

Gui'Yata straightened a little with pride, "We are fearsome, I understand the need."

"Anyway, he overreacted most of the time and usually violently," He shook his head and looked away, "he is not exactly one of the men I would have wanted to get a hold of the lead position of the Noa. I expect that his insanity is contagious."

Gui'Yata nodded even as he turned his attention back to the buildings before them, the man disappeared from Gerard's view, but not from Gui'Yata. He watched as the man skirted the large building in the middle of the village, then entered it. Gui'Yata leaned forward again seeing the second human signature stationary in the middle of the room. 

Nudging Gerard, Gui'Yata pointed toward the structure and leaned closer, "She is in there," He whispered.

"How? How do you know?" Gerard asked in confusion, "you see something I don't?"

Gui'Yata looked incredulously at the man, "Did Courtney tell you nothing about us?"

He shook his head, "If she did I wasn't listening! What do you see?"

"We see in degrees of heat," Gui'Yata said evenly, "I am looking at her heat signature, and that of the human Thomas, and ten Noa who now stand inside the largest of the dwellings."

"Really?" Gerard said, "Amazing!"

Gui'Yata snorted shaking his head, humans were definitely fascinated by that fact.

"Jump on," Gui'Yata said, "Its time to get her out of there."

Courtney was unable to tear her eyes away from the scene, half obscured as it was through the slatted wall surrounding her. She blinked heavily as she was flash blinded by the Plasma beam that the Taya ship finally killed the Habade with. She was deafened by the sound of the Habade's impact and her arms protested painfully as her body lifted and then dropped heavily against the cutting bonds on her wrists. She watched with devilish delight as her guards fell heavily to the deck, stunned by the event. She turned her attention back to the battle outside, ignoring the creatures as they slowly recovered their footing. Their rasping voices grew louder and faster as they turned their sightless sockets toward the sight of the battle. They sounded confused… they sounded worried! That sent a jolt of delight through her.

Through tears resulting from the blinding flash, she continued to watch the battle, seeing a horde of Soua pour out of Quarta. It had to be Quarta, she was the closest Taya ship and one of the few that were still in operation after the series of Noa attacks on any close-by cities. They hit the ground running, slashing, and firing into the crowd of Noa now bearing down on the fresh warriors. Quarta lifted again and she watched as another beam lanced out and scorched the swamp. Her excitement grew as the battle continued. The Soua were finally gaining the upper hand. The reinforcing Noa were cut off from those fighters still on the battlefield by the fire, and the Soua were making good use of the break. The ones who had first come to this deadly field were renewed, the sight of the reinforcements energizing them to renewed fury against the Noa.

Silently she cheered them on, a small part of her worried about her bondsman, surely a part of the original party. She was too far from the action to see any of the Soua warriors in detail, yet she watched closely as the armies fought back and forth along the length and breadth of the swamp. She ignored the pain that started in her neck as she strained to one side trying to get a better view.

Her attention was drawn away from the ruckus outside by the sound of many footsteps approaching. The pit of her stomach fell out as the Noa guards began to stir…HE was coming. With some effort she turned away from the entrance continuing to watch the battle, intent on ignoring Thomas. She wasn't going to let him see just how much he got under her skin. If only she was free…she thought as her hands made helpless fists above her head, something she couldn't even feel except by the strain in her arm muscles. If she was free, if his guards weren't there to protect him, she would see who the better human was, just who had learned more from their respective host races. It was almost a guarantee what the outcome would be.

"You must be worth more than I thought," Thomas grunted as he stopped in front of her.

Courtney slowly turned her eyes back toward the unkempt man looking at him derisively. Blinking slowly she turned away pretending that he did not exist. He grabbed her face in a vice like grip and turned her to face him again, "Look at me when I am talking to you!" He growled.

"Why?" She whispered hoarsely, "You have nothing to say that I have any interest in."

"Why are you so important that they would sent an army to free you?" He yelled shrilly.

Courtney laughed in his face, "You think they're here for me? You are stupider than you look you know that?" She yanked her face from his tight grip, "You have woken the sleeping giant…don't you understand that? The Soua would have been happy to let the Noa circle their society, to nip at their heels to make them feel important. 

Courtney shook her head sadly, "Maybe when the 'Brethren' returned they did something egregious to these people, something that was never righted, I will agree with you on that point. But they have been here for more centuries that can be remembered by the Soua, the trees are theirs, you cannot deny that they returned because they remembered their birthright, their home world, after so many years of being the lapdogs of these 'Masters'. The Noa sought no common ground with the Soua, because of what the Masters had done to them, because they no longer felt the same as the Noa, even though they were descended from the very Noa that live here. Both races are at fault for the rift that has been created here," He was shaking his head, "Both races!" She yelled. 

"But you…in all your lust for revenge, you have convinced the Noa that they can overpower the Soua, that they have a right to something that they don't. To their folly they believed you!" She could see his face set with hatred for her, but now she didn't care, "You have brought the wrath of the Tribes of the Soua down upon you all.

"They will realize their mistake, you know, they will realize that you are not their Messiah, that you are not here to deliver them to their birthright, but to their extinction. Mark my words, Thomas," He had turned away from her now, "Your days are numbered!"

He signaled to the Noa nearest him, who bowed very low before him and then straightened now approaching her immobile form. Courtney was quick to understand what was about to happen, and it took all of her training to keep the fear that was roiling up within her from showing on her face. Anticipation hung in the air like a palpable entity as the other creatures first went silent and then a slow thrumming sound issued forth. It gained volume the closer the creature approached, Thomas had turned to face her and was watching with a smirk on his face. She wanted so much to rip that smile from his face and feed it to him. Her attention was divided between the Noa and her desire to kill the man in a slow and extremely painful manner.

The Noa was only inches from her skin, and it reached out to touch her thigh, clicking excitedly at the prospect of tasting her flesh. She was trying to control her breathing, but was still panting heavily. Her attention was again drawn away, to the entrance of the long hut. The sight greeted her eyes like a slow motion scene from an action film. Striding through the door came a hulking figure, to large to be any Noa, and Courtney's eyes widened in surprise. Leaning to the left and simultaneously drawing a long barbed sword the creature gracefully spun the weapon and decapitated the Noa to the right of the door. He left the sword in the wall as the smaller creature slumped to the floor. About the same time the Noa to the left of the door suddenly jerked forward as his face blew out dribbling viscera and milk of magnesia colored blood onto the floor. The smell of burnt flesh hit her nostrils and the sound of sizzling flesh assailed her ears as the Noa swung forward much as a felled tree hitting the floor stiffly before signals stopped being sent to its muscles.

Chaos ensued as other Noa rushed to the door to confront the bold interlopers. The creature that had approached her intent of melting her flesh had frozen twisted half around to face the disturbance. Thomas was backing away from the quickly falling guards, heading her direction.

"Gui!" She bellowed over the squealing Noa, relief welling up within her. The Soua only glanced up briefly smiling a little before returning his attentions to the swarming Noa. She was again reminded just how impressive his fighting was. He stepping into a rushing Noa's attack, throwing an uppercut with his Sraha and lifting the body of the creature completely off the ground. Another came at him before he could free himself of the first and he reached up with one large hand catching the Noa in the chin, his fingers firmly planted in the creatures mouth, ripping down before the jaws could close on his fingers. She winced as she heard the jaw crack and sagged from its face. By then Gui'Yata had freed his sraha from its fellow and lashed out with it. The Noa had raised its arm to block the blow, and the twin blades neatly severed his hand from his arm midway to his elbow. The creature screeched and leapt away from Gui'Yata. Gui ignored it stepping further into the place.

Even more of a shock was the other that followed Gui'Yata into the dwelling, picking off Noa as he went, firing what she recognized as Gui'Yata's Plasma Cannon and he was making it look easy. Any Noa who came within striking distance fell to a sasa that was nearly as long as Gerard's forearm. She could only goggle watching him, he had always been so withdrawn, seeming to want to avoid anything to do with fighting, that it never occurred to her that he could fight. Here she saw none of that, he looked to be relishing the melee that he was in and he showed skill beyond that of a mere grunt soldier she had always thought him to be. She saw what could only be some sort of special forces training, and again she wondered just what his standing orders had been the night they had stormed the ship so very long ago now.

Courtney glanced down as something bumped into her, to find Thomas huddled against her leg. His guard was now gone strewn in many dead heaps across the floor. The rest of them were occupied with the battle out in the swamp, he was now truly alone, and he knew it. She twisted pushing his dirty flesh off of her. He ducked from the act, glancing up at her with scared very rat-like eyes, all of his swaggering bravado had dissipated, revealing him to be a hollow shell of a man.

"Save me," She heard him whisper and both Gerard and Gui'Yata closed on the man.


	15. Out of the Frying Pan

Chapter Fourteen: Out of the Frying Pan…

Gui'yata paused well inside the dwelling his eyes still roving the long house as if he was trying to detect something hidden. He had relaxed neither his stance nor his alertness for his surroundings. He had seen the evidence of what the Noa were capable of, able to lower their body temperature at will to blend into their surroundings. It had not occurred to Gui'Yata at first what was happening, though he had wondered how they had been able to get surrounded by Noa without ever sensing their presence. He had found out in the battle across the field, when he was attacked and nearly subdued by a Noa that had appeared from a previously clear section of the scrubby swamp. He was not about to fall prey to another such trap. He needed no more injuries such as the one that he suffered in Taysa. The Noa's bite to his shoulder had left his arm numb and partially immobile, and now seemed to him to be a permanent handicap. He was lucky in that it still functioned well enough that he could continue to be a serviceable member of his society. The large Soua expected an explosion of gnashing teeth from anywhere in the room. He only thought it was a good thing that they could not hold the ruse and move at the same time were that the case, this war would have been lost already.

Slowly he looked over the scene, scanning the bodies strewn about the room with disdain. Why had the two tribes been reduced to this fight? It was a question that had plagued him for long months. And it seemed to be a question that no one person could answer him. His brain hurt when he tried to think on it, he was a hunter, not a policy maker. He shook his head minutely, reminding himself that he was indeed a policy maker, an Eesan in his own city, and therefore charged with thinking these problems through. Yet the problem stumped him.

His eyes wandered again to the scene playing out before him, watching as Gerard cleared him and moved with determined strides and a stiff back toward the two humans that were pivotal to this rescue and this war. 

As the last of the Noa guard fell, Thomas had gone back to huddling against Courtney's leg, his filthy flesh pressed to hers, and clutching at what was left of her skirting. He whimpered incessantly and his eyes were unfocused and darting about the room, without really seeing anything. Courtney's skin crawled at the feel, at the thought of the man in that close a proximity to her. The only thing that kept her from lashing out again was the thought that it would soon be over.

Gerard stepped past Gui'Yata approaching the large tree bole that had served as Courtney's prison the past several days. He looked grim and determined, and a murderous light was in his eyes as they moved from her to Thomas. Gerard was grimy and covered in smelly swampy mud, and winter dried grasses clung to his clothes. There were also streaks of blood, his and Noa's over his body, and Courtney knew that he had been through hell just to get here.

Without hesitation Gerard grabbed Thomas by what could loosely be called clothing, drawing him away from Courtney, Thomas' clutching hands ripped her skirting further as he tried to maintain his hold of what he saw was an island of safety. Gerard threw him to the floor with more force than was necessary. He looked on the verge of kicking the crap out of the man, but somehow controlled the rage that was evident on his face. Instead he rolled Thomas over on his stomach and picking up a crude leather thong, he tied Thomas' arms together at above the elbows. He tied it tighter just to ensure that he would not free that stub of an arm. He was slow to straighten and the disgust on his face was evident. Only when that had been accomplished did he look up at Courtney.

Courtney looked to Gerard as if she had been here years and not days. There was blood running down from her wrists and ankles where the bonds had cut into her skin, now dark scarlet streaks dried and cracking. Her hair was disheveled, her once neat cornrows now ugly dreadlocks of tangles standing out at odd angles from her head. The shorter hair on the top of her head was no longer uniform but was matted together and spikes, like the longer hair, stood out all directions. She was dirty and her clothes were torn revealing her form in places that would make a modest person blush. Her skin was dirty and oily, streaked with dark tar and ash. Her fingers were nearly black they were so blue from lack of circulation. As she moved he could see sores worn through her skin oozing nastily, and evidence of more sinister use of their captive. That thought incensed Gerard that much more, that Thomas could treat another human being the way Courtney had been treated.

Her face as she regarded him was blank of expression and her eyes were wide. She was staring directly at him, but he could not even tell if she recognized him.

"Hey Beautiful," He said quietly, his heart compressing with the emotion he had denied himself since coming here. It intensified as mirth sparkled in her brown eyes. 

A smile broke her face then, as she croaked, "Hey yourself…flatterer," Gerard reached up and touched Courtney's cheek tenderly. Her eyes closed and she leaned into the soft caress as if glad for the tenderness, when much of the past few days had been hard on her.

"This is not the time for pleasantries," Gui'Yata reminded them gruffly, "There are too many enemies about."

Gerard looked back at the large Soua and nodded. Then he turned back toward her, "Ready to get the hell out of here?"

"More than," She growled in return.

Gerard turned away stepping back over toward Thomas, rolling him roughly over with one foot, "The keys, Thomas…Where are they?"

The man stared at him blankly for very long moments, not moving, not speaking as he regarded the older man's face, "G…Gerard?" The man asked in a small voice, as recognition dawned in his eyes, "What…What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Saving a friend," Gerard replied shortly to the first question, and not answering the second, "The keys, soldier!"

"Y…Yes sir," He stuttered, "Jacket pocket inside."

Gerard handed his weapon to Gui'Yata who hefted it into the crook of one arm. Then he leaned over fishing through the rough jacket, stiff with sweat and grease, for the "key" that was promised. Sounds from outside the dwelling drew their attention away again and all eyes turned back toward the entrance of the stilted dwelling assuming defensive stances. Did the Noa discover already that the invaders had penetrated into their city? They were not taking chances on the matter, preparing for assault right here in the heart of the Noa city.

Thomas did not take long to find an advantage in the distraction. He spun violently around catching Gerard in the legs and sending him to the ground, he was on his feet and running past Gui'Yata, before any had realized what he had done. He ran awkwardly his shoulders hunched and swinging wildly with his arms bound. He looked back at the small group as he ran smiling at his own ingenuity, before turning his attention on the door. He was intent on turning left and heading deeper into the city, the garden labyrinth was there, and they would never be able to extract him from that. All the while he was yelling at the top of his voice in Noa, "In here! The intruders are in here!" That should bring the approaching Noa to his aid.

Thomas' escape was short lived as he ran full force into something, and he might as well have run into a solid wall for all the reaction he got from it. Thomas fell back, but he never hit the ground as a large hand latched about his throat and he was lifted bodily off of his feet. He got a faint glimpse of a larger, rose colored Brethren wearing an expressionless mask, before lack of oxygen made his vision dim.

He was walked back into the long hut still dangling and gagging to get air into his crushing passage.

"Is this something that you wanted?" Gerard heard Tomakaya say as he was getting back to his feet, swearing the whole time about his inattention and stupidity. She stepped through the door and flung the human back into their midst. She then relayed orders to the two younger Soua with her, who posted themselves outside the door to prevent any further disruption. She posted herself directly in the doorway, her stance wide and her arms crossed over her muscular chest. Gerard smiled her direction as Gui'Yata thanked her for the return of their errant captive.

"Thomas!" Gerard hollered from where he stood with an air of authority that, by the look on their faces, shocked those gathered, "The bonds…NOW!"

"Y…Your just going to kill me if I do," Thomas theorized, the rat like whine back in his voice as he realized he was in serious trouble. Realizing also that an escape should have been better planned than running blindly. Now they were angrier.

Gerard stormed toward the man cowering between the towering aliens around him. The older soldier grabbed him by the filthy lapel again bringing his stink close to his face, "You're dead one way or the other, man," Gerard hissed, "But you may have a few more miserable moments before the end comes if you cooperate."

"You'll never get her down if you kill me," Thomas stated with one last shred of defiance straightening a little.

"Oh no, we'll get her down, might take a bit, and it might get us into another fight before we win our way out of here, but she will come with us in the end," He pressed the knife closer to his neck, "One more time, unlock the bonds!"

His face fell, his mouth hung open as the implications of that sunk in. Slowly in jerky motion he nodded. He looked away from Gerard a moment and started trilling oddly in varying tones. Gerard nearly silenced him on the spot fearful that his language was another call for help. He stopped just as the knife contacted the man's skin hearing the faint clicking behind him at the tree. He spun quickly seeing the bonds falling away and was just a second too late to react as Courtney vainly tried to grab the shackles to keep herself from falling. Her nerveless fingers could not hold and quickly slipped from the corroded chains. Gui'Yata got there first easing her down to the floor of the dwelling. She attempted to stand but her legs were rubbery and she nearly fell again as Gui'Yata released his support of her. She grabbed quickly for his arm again supporting herself with unfeeling fingers.

Gerard again pushed Thomas to the floor looking down on him disdainfully. He motioned to Gui'Yata who handed over his rifle again, and taking it he aimed it between Thomas' eyes. The man cowered at Gerard's feet curling into a fetal ball unable even to cover his face. Gerard's face screwed up into a mask of hate and loathing at what one of his men had done here. He felt responsible for this somehow, this thing at his feet was once a soldier of his, and that made him nauseous. He was going to take care of his responsibilities right now. His finger tensed on the firing stud.

"Wait," Someone whispered hoarsely. His gaze came up again looking for the source of that quiet strained voice. His eyes locked on Courtney who was shaking her head minutely in the negative. His eyes narrowed that had sounded nothing like he had remembered her voice, "Leave him, as he is, bound, beaten, disgraced. The Noa will make short work of him…believe me. This will prove to them that he is no savior, just a man who has tasted too much power for one lifetime."

"What if he gets away?" Gerard protested, "Look at how much devastation has happened because of him!"

Courtney was shaking her head in the negative again, "No he only accelerated something that was inevitable, Gerard," She looked up into Gui'Yata's quizzical face. She shook her head, "I'll explain later, not here…not now."

Gui'Yata nodded unconditionally accepting her words, as he always did. Courtney pushed away from him trying again to stand on her own. She was more successful this time and staggered oddly toward Gerard. She stopped at his side looking down with pity, loathing, and anger all clear to read on her face at Thomas still cowered on the floor. She felt Gerard's eyes on her and slowly looked up to meet them, "You're sure?" He asked again, "I don't want to leave him to be a future threat."

She blinked slowly and nodded once, "I'm sure. The Noa will get to know what rat tastes like," looking back again she stated it, then she looked down at her grimy skin, "I want to go home now…I'm beginning to think this stain is permanent."

Tomakaya looked at Gui'Yata then, "I will rejoin the others and see how goes the war," She leaned down to look into Courtney's eyes, "Be safe, little Raha, I will see you soon."

Tomakaya then straightened and exited the building. The two others moved to follow her, "Wait!" A small paranoid voice said. They all stopped and turned to look back at the man, "Please…don't leave me to them! You don't know what it is like to have your flesh stripped from you while you watch! Don't leave me!"

Courtney turned away from the group taking three determined strides back toward the wailing man. Seeing her approach he cowered again, expecting her to retaliate for all the humiliation she had suffered at his hands. Her face was screwed up with utter rage, "You made your bed…Now lie in it," She hissed at him. She did nothing else to him, but turned back and moved past the rest her eyes only for the exit. Gui'Yata's gaze lingered for a few moments longer on the man before he too turned away and walked out of the dwelling.

They retraced their route in, noticing from their vantage point in the tree that the fight had died down considerably. Knots of warriors were still to be seen moving back and forth along the battle lines, fires still burned, and Quarta still swooped amongst the fray lacing fire across the field. With the confusion, the small unobtrusive group was able to skirt the battle and head back toward Taysa.

The group found several saddled Yimhi's devoid of their riders wandering aimlessly through the undergrowth. A quick trilling brought them running to the group, seemingly happy to have found riders again. Gui'Yata helped Courtney, and Gerard, who insisted on escorting her out, onto the first before mounting his own. They used the animals, effectively skirting the conflict on the field to their right, as they made time quickly toward their destination. Courtney was more than a little uncomfortable during the ride, the sores on her legs and other pains making it hard for her to maintain her balance on the jolting strides of her mount. Gerard at her back was a help, steadying her as they rode, but she was unwilling to admit even to herself that she was in need of his help. That stubborn streak in her flared again, reinforced by the Soua code of Honor, she would show no weakness before her equals. She closed her eyes and bore through the pain.

A change in direction brought her attention back to her surroundings, and looking up she gasped, despite herself. Taysa loomed out of the darkness glowing slightly in the predawn light. Courtney could feel herself start to relax the closer those growths appeared to her party. Courtney could only think that the small Soua City was the best thing she had seen in many months. She wanted to cry, she wanted to break down on the spot, but she knew better. Thomas had nearly broken her, she realized, something that her ex-husband had never even come close to. She had been so close to just giving up and it had occurred to her that the others would not be able to find her. 

Courtney became mad at herself for feeling that way, when she knew that Gui'Yata would not give up on her. He was still her Yaner, and she his Yanahara, his obligation was to see her safe. But it was more than that…she had proved to be a catalyst for a dramatic change in him. She was more than an obligation to him, she was his friend, his huntsman, his bondsman. Perhaps the Ot Eesan had not made a mistake after all…perhaps they were meant to be bonded…as spiteful as the act was.

She glanced a moment to Gerard's hand around her slight waist, feeling that sensation rise up in her again. It was automatic for her to fight it down, especially after recent events, but this time it did not feel foreign, or desperate, or driven out of a physical desire of her own body. She was, she swallowed at the realization, in love with this former ATP soldier. 

Confusion followed that quickly, as she remembered that Gerard had every intention of going back to Earth when the opportunity arose. What would she do? She loved the life that she led now, and Earth was going to seem dull and boring compared to all of this. And yet, could she do without Gerard, without the companionship of her own species?


	16. Into the Fire

Chapter Fifteen: …Into the Fire

Kaiketa slowly hobbled toward the Shelter, sending intermittent calls to the guards to warn them of his approach. As yet he got no return to his challenge, and his jaw was set grimly a suspicion growing more insistent in his mind. From the outside of the Shelter nothing was amiss, but it was too quiet, there was no chatter coming from the guards left behind to ensure their captive remained still and silent or the musings of the captive in her native tongue. It had to be her native tongue, for it certainly was not that of the Brethren, and he had heard similar come from Skiateta when he mused to himself. He paused as he heard another whining lance of sky fire rip across the battlefield.

A growing disappointment filled him, a realization that he may have made a mistake, as he thought about the battle that was now in its final stages of being lost by the Clan. A cold chill settled into his old chest at the thought that choice had been the wrong one. But how? How could such a thing have happened? He had been so sure that the Human had been their Skiateta, all the signs had been there, all the precursors had been met. Yet his grand plan, this purge that was supposed to return the planet to their possession had not come to pass.

He turned the corner into the Shelter stopping abruptly as he felt the bodies on the floor, as he smelled the death that had occurred here, in the very heart of his city. There were ten of his warriors in the room all slain in gruesome ways. Slowly he stepped further in, turning his sightless face around the room and feeling out the extent of the massacre. The four were the prisoner guards, there were six others, and he recognized their signature as Skiateta's personal guard. 

Movement in the room caught his attention and he took another deliberate step toward the source. He stiffened as he again recognized the signature.

"Skiateta?" He muttered in surprise. And feeling the state in which their "Savior" found himself, on his face his hands bound behind him, disappointment grew stronger within Kaiketa, reinforcing his regret for thinking that this man was here to save the Clan. Or perhaps he had served his purpose. The fortelling had never been clear on just what part Skiateta would take in the Purge, only that one would be found that would be responsible for it coming about. He stood a bit straighter as that revelation came to him. He directed his sightless face with disdain toward the cowering dog now at his feet.

"Kaiketa!" The man said sounding relieved to see him, adding in a tone of one with assumed authority, "Release my bonds."

Kaiketa straightened still more until he was balancing on the balls of his overlong feet, "Why did I save you?" He uttered softly, "I should have let that oaf eat you when you were found!"

"No!" The human denied, "I am Skiateta, I will lead you to victory."

"No," Kaiketa answered just as evenly, as a thought occurred to him. Perhaps he was asking for too much too early in this campaign, "We will find our own victory. I see now that you were never needed to win the war, that you were only the catalyst. You have served your purpose," The old Clan nodded to himself, his face now turned away from the man at his feet, "You have been a greater menace to us than help and I see now that you are expendable."

The elder Noa turned, clicking quickly to those with him. One began a high keening sound drawn out for long moments, then the dwelling fell silent. An answering keen came from the forest, just the other side of the long house. It was not long before more Noa had filled the long house. That crowd parted as another creature was led into the dwelling. It was low slung and possessed powerful front quarters. Each of its feet was cloven with sharp looking hooves. It had large compound eyes and a medium length prehensile snout from which six fangs protruded. A Crailack! 

"No!" Thomas cried in fear. He was in for no painless death, not for the teeth and numbing saliva of the Noa themselves, was this human. Skiateta would go out screaming as the Crailack killed him little by little. Crailacks were known for their savagery, for their sheer maliciousness in killing. They were well documented for torturing their prey, harrying them until blood loss and pain kept them from moving any further. When the prey could no longer run the Crailack would eat it, still living, still aware of the pain. It was the most horrible punishment the Clan knew.

Kaiketa turned away as the Crailack bore down on Skiateta. He called one of his escorts to his side speaking quickly, "Send runners to Tamboua, Hiskaria, Boula, and Weasnea. Tell them that the Purge has begun, they are to gather their forces and hit the Brethren cities nearest their own. They are to send runners from their cities to the more outlying settlements."

"What of our own battle?" His escort asked reverently.

Kaiketa paused as Skiateta's screams pierced the air. He turned his sightless face toward the field of battle, "Have them fall back, we have made our point here today. We must conserve our forces…this will be a long war," he said with the gravity of prediction.

The escort bowed low, then turned and disappeared into the forest. Moments later he hear the whispered orders pass through the city, punctuated now and again by the screams and moans of the dying human, who was to be their savior. Kaiketa nodded to himself, yes the human had served a purpose, he had brought them to the foot of the realization of their dream, it was unfortunate that he would be unable to join them for the final ascension.

Quona and Gui'Yata look at the scout with incredulity, "You are sure about this?"

The sentry nodded once quickly, "I saw the army with my own eyes, Quona. The Noa march in force this direction."

Quona had only just returned from the battle in Lmarienta swamp. They had felt good about the victory there, the Noa had retreated back into the swampy scrub surrounding their stilted town. They had suffered heavy losses and Quona could still remember the carpet of Noa bodies that littered the field as their remaining fighters turned tail and fled. That they had amassed a great army to again assault Taysa was very disturbing to him. He looked up and noticed that Gui'Yata shared the same foreboding look on his own face.

The two Eesan's looked at each other, ignoring the scout a moment as they began signing to each other, "We cannot hold against another full assault," Gui'Yata told his Grandfather immediately, "We are too few now, they will surely overrun us in a matter of hours."

"I agree," Quona said gravely. He looked away a moment, then back at his fellow Eesa, "Contact Donona…inform them of our situation and then prepare to evacuate the city."

Quona turned to face the scout and dismiss him from his service to the Eesa.

"But that is Cowardice!" Gui'Yata stammered, "We should be fighting to the death for our city!" 

The younger soua stepped back and averted his eyes at the withering look given him by his grandfather, "This is not a hunt, boy!" Quona barked, "This is war, and though you are too young to remember a war… The fact remains that the rules change. 

"The Noa outnumber our own population, and though they have neither the technology nor the weaponry we possess they are no less a threat for it. Or does that numb arm not still remind you how capable the Noa are when it comes to combat. Does the carnage at Hosmara, Donona, and even here not make you think of just how formidable our adversary is?"

Gui'Yata made no attempt to look at the older Eesa as he replied, "You are right, I spoke without thinking."

"We must salvage what we can and make for Donona as quickly as possible," Quona repeated, he then motioned over Gui'Yata's shoulder and was joined by another young Soua Warrior, "Mlanka…gather your three fastest scouts. Ensure the path to Donona is free of obstruction and return," He returned his attention to Gui'Yata, as the scout moved away from them. 

"We will not be able to take everyone remaining in Quarta, she is tired from fighting in the atmosphere and so close to the influence of gravity. We will have to send a party of all that are able-bodied on the ground, Yimhi and on foot toward Donona. We will take the remaining wounded and fly to Donona field."

"What happens if they decide to hit Donona as well?" Gui'Yata voiced, "The Taya would be just as easily destroyed there, as well as our mecca."

"We will discuss putting all ships in orbit around the planet to keep them out of harm with the Ot Eesan when we get there."

"You know what they will do with the city?" Gui'Yata asked, "They will destroy Taysa, destroy all that we have built here."

"Yes," Quona sighed, "But we have no other option unless you want to throw yourself on a spear needlessly. Such an effort will only be in vain, one way or another, Taysa is lost to us."

Gui'Yata averted his eyes again to hide the anger he felt at leaving HIS city to the ravening packs of Noa, "There is something more to this," Gui'Yata mused to himself.

"Again I agree, Sai," Quona said slowly, "But I want to think on it with a few more warriors around me."

Courtney looked back trying vainly to keep the tears out of her eyes as the outline of Taysa disappeared into the surrounding mist, and obscured by the trees. This was as emotional for her as it was for Gui'Yata. They had nearly lost their lives getting that city established, and now it was as good as gone. Her temper rose again at the thought of what the soldier Thomas had wrought with his meddling. That was followed quickly by a malicious smile. Scouts had come back with interesting news after they had left. He had relayed that the human had been killed and by no humane means either. He had been literally ripped apart piece by piece while still living. The scout had said that the screams resounded for hours. That still did not change the events he had set into motion.

She had not had a chance yet to divulge the secret that she had been told about Gui'Yata's people. When had she been possessed of any time? She wondered again what the reaction would be if she was to inform them of that tidbit?

She could imagine, and it would not be the laying down of arms and warm welcome to the Noa. She knew that for fact, there was too much hatred between the races for that to occur. But then again, how long could they last against the hoards of the Noa? Months? Years? She could see no other result of the war but the serious depletion or extinction of the Soua, or worse forfeiture of the lands that they called home and exile to space. She had to tell them, she had to convince them to find some sort of common ground and work through the underlying hostilities. But how?

Courtney knew that now was not the time. When they arrived at Donona, told their story, then perhaps they would be more approachable to the news. 

For now she was reduced to saying goodbye to her home for the past eleven rotation with the knowledge that if she was able to ever see it again it would probably be a lifeless and leafless series of crisped branches on a burnt out tree.

A tear escaped her eyes and she quickly wiped it away before the unfamiliar Soua at her sides noticed her weakness. One day…they would return and rebuild it.

She looked forward again noticing the dark hair bobbing between larger bodies as Gerard rode his Yimhi. She looked down at her hands again feeling that sensation well up in her again. That was another thing that she knew was inappropriate at this time. And every time she looked at him she had to remind herself that sooner or later he would be going back to Earth. And again that pricked at her about what she would do when he did leave.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Gui'Yata riding back to join her.

"Quona has ordered you off planet," Gui'Yata said before she could form a greeting, and her face fell in shock.

"What?" She said in a voice louder than she had intended. She felt the eyes of Soua warriors on her, "I want to be here to defend our people," she said more quietly in English.

Gui'Yata shook his head slowly, "I know," he said seeming to agree with her, "But word has reached Donona of the Human Thomas' aid to the Noa. Quona has heard rumors that you will be incarcerated the minute you step into Donona," He looked away again, "The more likely prospect is that you will be killed on sight."

"But I had nothing to do with what went down!" Courtney protested her voice rising in anger again, "You know that…they should know that!"

Gui'Yata nodded again, "This is a campaign that is being driven from very high up in the Ot Eesan."

"Don't tell me, Oana," Courtney said in a tone that sounded like she wanted to spit.

Gui'Yata grunted, "There will be no convincing the Ot Eesan other than you will betray them as well."

"So what is Quona going to do?" 

"You and Gerard will be sent away on Quarta," He started.

"What about you?" Her voice was slightly frantic.

He straightened in his saddle, "I will be Quona for the trip back to Earth."

A part of Courtney swelled with pride. The other part recoiled at the thought of what he had just hit her with, "Earth?"

"Yes," He said then more quietly, "I am to escort you and Gerard home."

The End

Yes I know not exactly a happy ending, but it leaves it wide open for the sequel…whenever I get around to that one that is! Thank you all for your support while I have been writing this, even with all the delays. You guys have been great for me. In the works (How soon I can't say) are a way back prequel when the Predator's were still the pointmen for the Master's army…. And a sequel tentatively called Family Ties Which will involve, Courtney, Gui'Yata, Gerard, Matt (Courtney's Ex), and perhaps Teresa (Courtney's daughter)…Give me some time as I have soooooo many ideas colliding in my head I think that it is going to explode! Thanks again for everything!

Darwin


End file.
